The Three Laws Of Nature, By Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes lived during a time of great upheaval and strife in his country. Much of this influenced his political and social thesis. Hobbes believed man was selfish and self-serving, and that its natural state was war. People will fight each other for three reasons: in defense of themselves, family, and livestock, to make themselves masters of others and their belongings, and in response to the status or slight of themselves, their family, clan, or nation. This state of nature would produce a world in which there was no security. Thus there are three laws of nature, or lex naturalis, which guide man to justice. The first general rule which holds the idea that man will not continue to act in a way that is destructive of life, and that he …show more content…
There still needs to be a way to have trust that the other will not break the covenant they have made. This is where the Commonwealth comes in, a common power to induce men to honor their contracts and to provide security and safety. Sovereign power is given to one individual, or to an assembly of men, that effectively reduces the multitude of wills and voices to one. Every man is making a covenant to allow this individual or assembly to govern for them. Hobbes believed that once given this power was inviolable, it should not be removed, or a new covenant made with a new individual or assembly when the populace is disgruntled. The result would be civil war and that the horrors and miseries that accompanied that were far worse than the miseries of the current rule. I found Hobbes to be the most interesting of the three political views, though I did find it distasteful that those in misery were expected to remain content with their lot and not seek betterment at the cost of questioning or discontinuing the sovereignty of the ruler/rulers. However, that may be due to being raised in a