Thomas Hobbes View Of Human Nature

Can we really understand what Hobbes is trying to make you understand the aspect of human nature? The topic is important to philosophy because this is the how Hobbes understands his view of human nature. In this paper, I will agree with Hobbes understanding of human nature. I will discuss how Hobbes understands human nature through “pleasure” and “pain” and the relationship between “desire” and “aversion”. To understand what I am explaining about how Hobbes understands human nature, we first need to understand the terms “pleasure” and “pain” that are going to be used, then we need to understand what the terms “desire” and “aversion” mean. The first term is “pleasure” Hobbes is saying pleasure is just “a corroboration of vital motion, and a help thereunto” (page 362). The term “pain” in Hobbes’ view is “hindering and troubling [of] the motion vital”(page 362). The term “desire” in Hobbes view is saying, “What we desire, he says, we call good” (page 362). The term “aversion” in Hobbes view is saying that “what we wish to avoid we call evil” (page 362).

Since “pleasure” and “pain” are individual and not universal, I will start with pleasure; pleasure according to Hobbes is as stated above “a corroboration of vital motion, and a help thereunto” (page 362). For example, blood is running throughout the human body. The next is “pain” Hobbes is saying that “pain” is “hindering and troubling [of] the motion vital”(page 362). For example, you are eating healthy but then you eat fast food, the next day your body is not feeling awful. For Hobbes pleasure is good and pain is evil. With all these concepts Hobbes emphasizes the individual’s point of