In the chapter assigned, Hobbes describes a number of different manners, which he defines as the ways that mankind manages to live together in harmony. In this paper, I will argue that the purpose of this passage is to explain to the reader that the reason for these different manners is that each man seeks to continually secure himself, but no one knows the best way to do so because of lack of certainty of what the future holds. This lack of certainty, without the aid of the knowledge of natural causes, gives rise to religion. Finally, this religion is used as a tool with which to govern. Then, I will use examples from the text to show how this fits into Hobbes’s ultimate assertion that to escapes the State of Nature, man creates the Leviathan.
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People can be satisfied with moderate amounts of power, but they cannot be secure in holding onto it with acquiring more power. Hobbes uses the examples of kings, who, at least relative to the peasant, have it all, continually fight to assure themselves of the status that they enjoy. He then goes on to give examples of how people seeking different desires use different manners. Those seeking riches, honor, or military power are “inclineth to contention, enmity, and war, because the way of one competitor to the attaining of his desire is to kill, subdue, supplant, or repel the other,” (61). Those that seek leisure and pleasure, or seek to avoid danger, instead are willing to obey a common power, so as to protect them from powers that would seek to harm them. Later on in the passage, Hobbes says that it is the fear of the future, this desire to make oneself secure, that leads men to try to discover the “causes of things”. Knowing the causes better equips men to prepare for the future. Curiosity leads some to seek the causes of causes, until the reach something that has no cause, which they call God. Hobbes thinks it impossible for there to be “any profound inquiry into natural causes without being inclined to believe there is one God eternal,”
People can be satisfied with moderate amounts of power, but they cannot be secure in holding onto it with acquiring more power. Hobbes uses the examples of kings, who, at least relative to the peasant, have it all, continually fight to assure themselves of the status that they enjoy. He then goes on to give examples of how people seeking different desires use different manners. Those seeking riches, honor, or military power are “inclineth to contention, enmity, and war, because the way of one competitor to the attaining of his desire is to kill, subdue, supplant, or repel the other,” (61). Those that seek leisure and pleasure, or seek to avoid danger, instead are willing to obey a common power, so as to protect them from powers that would seek to harm them. Later on in the passage, Hobbes says that it is the fear of the future, this desire to make oneself secure, that leads men to try to discover the “causes of things”. Knowing the causes better equips men to prepare for the future. Curiosity leads some to seek the causes of causes, until the reach something that has no cause, which they call God. Hobbes thinks it impossible for there to be “any profound inquiry into natural causes without being inclined to believe there is one God eternal,”