Discussion Starter- Hobbes

Hobbes attests that,“I put for a general inclination of all mankind a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death”(Leviathan, I,13). This acrimony towards the nature of mankind is fundamental towards the development of the dogma propagated in Leviathan. The theory of a social contract (and the perceived need for one) is based on this disparaging perception of human nature, making Hobbes’s political theory a development of a mechanism to cope with the pitfalls of humanity. This bares a remarkable similarity to the method by which Machiavelli actualizes his theory, suggesting a leader that constricts the ever germinating flower of human greed. Hobbes warns that in the absence of a higher entity that ameliorates natural human behavior, chaos arrises. He states, “Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war, as is of every man, against every man”(Leviathan, I,13).  Thus the generalized mistrust of people coupled with the fear of the societal disorder that characteristically arrises out of unfettered human interaction drives the need for a ‘Leviathan’. Hobbes notes that an effective form of government requires absolute authority which is attained through the possession of essential rights of sovereignty, i.e., power that is neither limited nor divided. Amplifying this judgement of people is the principle of human equality as Hobbes proclaims,“Nature hath made men so equal, in the faculties of the body, and mind; as that though there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body, or of quicker mind than another; yet when all is reckoned together, the difference between man, and man, is not so considerable,…”(Leviathan, I,13). This uniformization between individuals in tandem with the established notion that people have the capacity for rational thought brings balance to an otherwise dejected perception of people and thereby giving rise to the élan vital of Hobbes’s theory: the conclusion that man (acting in accordance with rationality) becomes subservient to a autarchic governing body via a social contract in order create an auspicious society. Thus the theory would not stand solely on the premise that mankind has an incurable desire for power (if solely based on this, a despotic system of governing would be more probable), making the existence of human reason an essential component of Hobbes’s idealized society.