Bellum omnium contra omnes

well-educated society that emphasized reason, people began to investigate human behavior. The enlightenment movement resulted in a change of thinking towards philosophy, religion, science, and political thought (Lewis, 1992). Due to a disagreement with the political power of the monarch’s divine right of kings, political philosophers proposed a social contract. Two famous natural law and social contract theorists, examined throughout this paper, are Thomas Hobbes and John Locke (Fiero, 2011). Due to the English Civil War, Thomas Hobbes opposed a divine-right monarchy, which essentially led him to formulate a theory of natural law that greatly differed from other theorists during this period. One of Hobbes’ most famous lines is “Bellum omnium contra omnes”, which translates to “War of all against all” (Richey, 2013). This line is a basis for his view of mankind, within which he believes all men and women to be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (Hobbes, 1651). Unlike all other natural law theorists’ belief that men are social animals, Hobbes states that men are not social animals, but are by nature selfish, greedy, and warlike. In Hobbes’ treatise the Leviathan, he argued his view on the state of nature and human behavior. Although most natural law theorists believe that all humans are equal, Hobbes also believed it, yet in a very fundamental way. Hobbes says, “Nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind”, for which he thinks that every man…

In this paper I will be assessing Hobbes view of man in a state of nature and why it is not possible to agree with life in the state of nature if one disagrees with the all-powerful sovereign. Due to the many factors associated with the state of nature and the social contract, if one agrees with such it makes it nearly impossible to disagree with the need for a government with limitless powers. I will argue that if one agrees with life in the state of nature, then they must as well agree with…

Leviathan is divided into four specific books “Of Man”, “Of Common-Wealth”, “Of A Christian Common-Wealth”, and “Of the Kingdome of Darknesse”. Book I focuses on the philosophical framework for the entire text, while the following and remaining books elaborate the arguments presented in the prior chapters. Book I, begins by Hobbes beginning his text by considering the motions of matter, and arguing that every aspect of human nature can be deduced from materialist principles. Hobbes then goes on…

The life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. This outcome is not what man wants out of life. He wants power and the ability to achieve his appetites and avoid his aversions. This holds true for the man next to him as well and there is no guarantee that man will not kill one another in the natural state of things in order to follow his appetites and aversions. This is why government was created. Man chose to create government to ensure self-protection; he gave up his power and…

In Mo Tzu’s Against Music, the audience learns that music is detrimental to society. He first starts out by claiming the responsibility of a benevolent man, or women is to eliminate what is ruinous to society. Besides this, a benevolent man’s obligation is not to just take his only interest and add it, but also decide based on the common good. For instance, plenty of people of a higher class, rulers, and ministers may enjoy music, and all it entails, very much; but, it offers few to none…

In analyzing the foundations of human behavior, Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, establishes a basis for what he considers a secure, harmonious commonwealth. Reason, by adding and subtracting consequences, offers a fundamental reordering of man’s passions and fears, placing self-preservation as man’s greatest desire and the threat of violent death as man’s greatest fear. In turn, Reason allows man to control and direct his passions. This process is critical to help define the goals of politics and…

A counter narrative can be seen to arise over the very nature of man itself. A negative conception of the nature of man arguably erodes all the work done allowing for man to maximise himself within a state and paints the role of systems and states in an entirely different light. For many theorist man is inherently destructive or evil and a “leviathan” (Hobbes, 1661) must be required to stop man from self-destructing.. Augustine of Hippo states that humans are all inherently sinful due to…

how the two most influential philosophers can be polar opposite but at the same time agree on other topics. These two philosophers are Englishmen Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Thomas Hobbes was born on April 5, 1588, while John Locke was born 44 years later on August 29,1632. Both men went to Oxford University in England to get their degrees in philosophy. Although these men have similarities in their educational backgrounds their philosophies are a bit different. The two-philosopher agreed that…

obtain power, was through a sovereign who followed the correct moral code, which meant that in some instances sinful actions which disregarded the relevance of morality were acceptable. Hobbes referred to history in order to explain his analysis on political power, he discussed what was called ‘the state of nature’ and that in this scenario, life would be nasty, brutish and short, in which there would be an abundance of freedom, but a lack of security. In this anarchical situation, it would…

being equal in terms of rights and sharing the same responsibility as members of the modern society; natural moral principles will be the believe of a higher law and teachings of God, the rights to life, justice and property. This will enable a fair analysis of whether freedom and equality root from natural moral principles or political institutions. The focus should be on whether humans are born with rights that give us freedom and whether that ‘birth-right’ make us equal. Hobbes proposed in…