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Human Nature In Thomas Hobbes Leviathan

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• Throughout The Leviathan, Hobbes presents his view of human nature and advocates for a social contract to
The fear experienced in the state of nature is highly restrictive, preventing those involved from enjoying freedom and the right of self-preservation. To contrast, fear experienced under the sovereign is instrumental in protecting its citizens. By utilizing the threat of punishment, the sovereign is able to provide security against the power hungry nature of humans.

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• The fear those in the state of nature experience illustrates the adverse effects of human nature. Hobbes posits that this nature is a sum of appetite and aversion, reconciled by a struggle for power. Moreover, Hobbes suggests that the measure of power in
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“In 1651, Hobbes wrote one of the most influential philosophical treatises in human history, Leviathan or the Matter Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. Like his rival, John Locke, Hobbes posited that in a state of nature men and women were free to pursue and defend their own interests, which resulted in a state of war in which “the life of man” was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ”(“Philosopher who influenced the Founding Fathers and the First Principles,”

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Thomas Hobbes in his book The Leviathan stated “Our motives and actions are all based on internal bio-mechanical processes.” In other words, our actions for change are based off wants and needs. Cesar Chavez, labor union organization and a civil rights leader, uses juxtaposition all throughout his essay (published in a religious organizations’ magazine) to state the two methods of taking action, violent or non-violent. He writes his article in an introspective tone by using religion to advocate nonviolence. He uses aphorism to repudiate violent methods.

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Hobbes explains that terror would come to a society that has no government, order, and law. In this chapter it is obvious that Hobbes’ reasoning proves true because there is fear within their society once the conch is

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In the condition of nature, where man is put at war against man, no security is conceivable and life is brimming with terror. In any case, two common interests empower individuals to get away from the condition of nature; Hobbes’ refers to them as trepidation and reason (pg.108). Angst makes man need to get away from the condition of nature; logic demonstrates to him a method to get away. Reason gives the laws that Hobbes creates, which constitute the establishment for peace.

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In Leviathan, Hobbes was the original author to suggest that humans are prepared to do terrible things, when there are no consequences. Hobbes paints the picture of a world in a “State of Nature,” which is referring to before governments controlled people, and before people had set customs and tradition. In saying this, he is implying that people are naturally evil, and that without a strong, central government to enforce rules, people are prepared to do horrendous things for their own personal gain. Thomas Hobbes doesn’t mean that people are evil directly, though. He means that several factors of human nature combine and mix to create something that is ignorant, arrogant and greedy.

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In this essay I will investigate the concept of freedom by offering an analysis of Hobbes’ Leviathan and Machiavelli’s The Discourses, because I want to show what reaction Machiavelli would have had to Hobbes’ proto-liberal definition of liberty as “the absence of external impediments” in order to help the readers understand how Machiavelli would criticize the concept while offering a deeper analysis of it. Thomas Hobbes is one of the biggest supporter of Absolutism and the total supremacy of the State on the individuals. He has lived his life in a climate of absolute insecurity and lack of certainty. That is why he wanted to completely reform the human way of thinking. His main goal was that of giving the geometrical strictness to politics

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According to Hobbes, a sovereign, whether the sovereign was placed into power by violence or force, is the only way to secure law and order. For him, if a citizen obeys the sovereign for fear of punishment or in the fear of the state of nature, it is the choice of the citizen. According to Hobbes, this is not tyranny; it is his idea of a society that is successful, one that does not have room for democracy. As a realist, Hobbes has a fierce distrust of democracy and viewed all of mankind in a restless desire for power. If the people are given power, law and order would crumble in Hobbes’ eyes.

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Hobbes famously described non-political society, or as it has also been come to known, the State of Nature as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (Hobbes, 1651: 1.13). To understand this it is important to grasp the nature of man in the State of Nature. A concept central to the comprehension of this is the equality of all men; despite having different strengths, men are equal, meaning no man has superiority over another. Man’s dominant passion is described as being self-preservation, all man’s wants, and desires lead back to their want to preserve their lives. Hobbes saw this not only as a passion but a right, all men are born with the natural right to do what they need in order to preserve their own life which Hobbes calls ‘the right of nature’.

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