Hobbes Leviathan Analysis Of Its Impact On The Framing Of Our Democracy Essay
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Hobbes Leviathan: Analysis of its Impact on the Framing of our Democracy
Preface
Although I did recently vote in my first election, I would nevertheless not consider myself to be very politically aware. I hardly even know the names of our representatives for North Carolina. Throughout this semester though, a spark, as to the political origins of our nation and what our forefathers dreamed of creating when first writing our constitution, began to grow inside of me. These are the reasons that I felt reading Hobbes Leviathan could help me gain some understanding and insight into these issues.
Hobbes Leviathan: Analysis of its Impact
on the Framing of our Democracy
Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, written against the backdrop of the horrors of the English Civil War, in the mid 1600 s, is a discussion about the principles of man s basic need for peace, unity, and security, in both nature and civilization. Essentially arguing in favor of a sovereign monarchy, Hobbes writes in such a manner as to present these basic principles so they could apply to any political system, including that of a democracy. To achieve this, Hobbes presents several questions in this novel. What kind of being is man? What is the nature of man? What comprises a commonwealth that can successfully govern man? These are the pivotal questions presented in Hobbes Leviathan.
According to Hobbes, man is a creation of God not dissimilar to that of man manufacturing watches. Both have moving parts; a spring or heart to keep them alive, strings or nerves to hold them together, and wheels or joints to give motion to the whole body. But it is more than just this that Hobbes says makes up man. Man has, or at least should have sense, imagination, speech, and reason. Sense is an instrument for conception in man s mind. Without the senses, man cannot see the Representation or Appearance of quality (85). Imagination is the remembering of things once perceived by the senses, and the ability to compound different memories into one, as with compounding the sight of a man and a horse into that of a Centaur. Speech by far is The most noble and profitable of all inventions , for speech is the means Whereby men register their thoughts; recall them when they are past; and declare them one to another for mutual utility and conversation (100). Without speech Hobbes tell us there would be Neither Commonwealth, nor Society, nor Contract, nor peace, no more than amongst Lyons, Bears, and Wolves (100). Reason then is the sense of reckoning, or adding and subtracting things up in our mind, trying and testing the consequences of each change until the right solution is made, although not necessarily guaranteeing success. These traits, once merged with man s divine soul, places man at the zenith of all creation.
To truly understand the nature of man, one must first understand nature. Nature as defined by Hobbes, is the conditions and environments in which humans find themselves, when no external or artificial order is imposed upon them. Hobbes explains this state of nature as a state of perpetual war, where quarrels are started based on three principal causes; competition, diffidence, and glory. Competition for some is a driving force, pushing them to work harder, to be better than the next man. Hobbes describes this as the force that maketh men invade for gain (185), while diffidence and glory make men invade for safety and reputation respectively. Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them in awe, they are in that condition we call warre; and such a warre, as is of every man against every man (185). Hobbes argues this state of constant war is the nature of man, not simply because one person is stronger than another, but because men are for the most part created equally. It is this equality among men that creates a similarity of needs and desires. When two individuals want the same thing, they are in competition with each other. Taken to the extreme they become enemies and engage in warfare. The same holds true for one man s wanting another s status, possessions, belongings, etc.. The nature of man though, is not comprised solely of war. If that were true, there would be no need for reason in the creation of man. It is this potential for reasoning that creates the laws of nature, or the laws of self-preservation. Men may go to war with each other over possessions, safety or status, but the laws of nature at times will hold them back. Hobbes says, A law of nature, is a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may be best preserved (189). This law forces men to struggle to stay alive at any cost. Many laws of nature are self-evident through reason. ...
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