Thomas Hobbes (1581-1679) PDF

THOMAS HOBBES (1581-1679) LIFE SKETCH Thomas Hobbes was born in the family of an Anglican clergyman. He was a English philosopher, scientist, and historian, best known for his political philosophy, especially as articulated in his masterpiece Leviathan (1651). Hobbes was also a witness to the civil...

THOMAS HOBBES (1581-1679) LIFE SKETCH Thomas Hobbes was born in the family of an Anglican clergyman. He was a English philosopher, scientist, and historian, best known for his political philosophy, especially as articulated in his masterpiece Leviathan (1651). Hobbes was also a witness to the civil war in England between the supporters of monarchy and republicanism and sided with the king. In this war Charles I was beheaded and monarchy was abolished. As he was a witness to the whole bloody drama of civil war, it left a deep impact on his thinking. He was convinced that man is an animal motivated by only two considerations viz. fear and self- interest. Hobbes painted a very dark picture of the human nature. He was convinced that a strong and stable government was the basic need of a civilised life and this could be provided only by an absolute monarch. Thus he made a strong plea for absolute monarchy. Witness to the Civil War in England  He was also a witness to the civil war in England between the supporters of monarchy and republicanism and sided with the king;  In this war, Charles I was beheaded and monarchy was abolished;  As he was a witness to the whole bloody drama of civil war, it left a deep impact on his thinking;  He was convinced that man is an animal motivated by only two considerations viz. fear and self-interest;  Hence he painted a very dark picture of the human nature. He was convinced that a tough and steady government was the basic need of a civilised life and this could be delivered only by an absolute monarch. Thus he made a resilient plea for absolute monarchy;  Hobbes also felt the impact of a number of other political thinkers, scientists and mathematicians;   Thus he took the idea of socialist contract from Plato and Hooker, who had made use of the same in the earlier centuries, though in a very vague manner;  Hobbes borrowed the concept of the law of nature form Grotius and equated the laws of nature with dictates of reason';  He borrowed the concept of sovereignty from Bodin though he effected great improvement in it;  The concept of mechanical nature of the world which formed the broad basis of Hobbes philosophy was borrowed by him from Galileo;  For his materialistic theory and scientific methods he is indebted to Desecrates WORKS OF HOBBES  The works of Hobbes include De Cive which he wrote in 1642 (its English version was published in 1651)  The Leviathan was written by Hobbes when he was on exile in France and was published in London on his return in 1651  He is also famous for other works "The De Corpore" (1655); and "De Honine" (1658)  Hobbes also produced a number of pamphlets in the course of his controversies with the theologians Methodology of Hobbes The scientific technique is one of the utmost offerings of Hobbes to political theory. He applied it for the first time to social sciences and exasperated to pull deductions from the axioms ,assumptions and already established truths. He was the first thinker who asserted that political theory was based on the existence of matter and motion. Three fold significance of Hobbes methodology His methodology has three fold significance.  Hobbes completely rejected the medieval conception of the existence of soul or spirit and tried to interpret everything in  materialist terms. In this respect he became the forerunner of Marx, a faithful materialist.  Hobbes's method involved the rejection of the medieval theory that the state was the result of classical Fall. He asserted that the formation of a state by individuals was definite step forward in so far it frees them from the fear of endless anarchy, chaos etc. There are three different parts of Hobbes philosophy  the first dealing with the physical phenomenon called 'physics',  the second dealing with mental phenomenon which is called 'psychology and  the third, the civil philosophy HOBBES'S POSTHUMOUS WORKS 1682: Seven Philosophical Problems (English translation of Problematica Physica, 1662) 1682: A Garden of Geometrical Roses (English translation of Rosetum Geometricum, 1671) 1682: Some Principles and Problems in Geometry CIVIL WAR PERIOD (1642-1651) The English Civil War commenced in 1642  The royalist cause started to decline in mid-1644, many royalists came to Paris and were known to Hobbes. This revitalised Hobbes's political interests, and the De Cive was republished  The company of the exiled royalists led Hobbes to produce Leviathan, which set forth his theory of civil government in relation to the political crisis  In 1650, a pirated edition of The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic was published.  It was separated into two small volumes: Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policie; and De Corpore politico, or the Elements of Law, Moral and Politick  In 1651, the translation of De Cive was published under the title Philosophical Rudiments concerning Government and Society   In Leviathan, Hobbes set out his doctrine of the foundation of states and legitimate governments and creating an objective science of morality Much of the book is occupied with demonstrating the necessity of a strong central authority to avoid the evil of discord and civil war  Hobbes appealed to the revolutionary English government for protection and fled back to London in winter 1651 After his submission to the Council of State, he was allowed to subside into private life in Fetter Lane. POLITICAL IDEAS OF HOBBES The political ideas of Hobbes can be discussed below:  Human Nature  The Social Contract  Sovereignty  Rights and Liberty Human Nature Hobbes treats the individual not as a rational creature but an embodiment of passions, emotions and desires. According to Hobbes what a man desires he calls good and what he dislikes he calls evil. He asserts that the conception of good or bad is not fixed or objective but subjective ever undergoing change.According to him there is no final end or goal of life. Hobbes further believes that men by birth are equal. Some may have better mental faculties while the others may be physically ever, the desire to have the same things brings them in clash with each other. He says that competition, glory and differences make people brute and quarrelsome. Hobbes on State of Nature Hobbes views on state of nature, a period of human history preceding the establishment of the civil state, are an extension of his view of human nature. Hobbes holds that all men are by nature equal in powers. None of them is so strong as to be safe against the other. Hobbes says that they are also moved by the same three passions viz.,  desire for safety;  desire of gain;  desire of glory. Desire of Gain  Hobbes says that the desire of gain leads to violence when the object of desire can neither be divided nor enjoyed in common;  Naturally the human beings develop distrust towards each other;  This distrust is evident from the fact that a man goes around against his fellow-human beings with arms in hands, closes his doors against his neighbours and closes his chest against his children and servants;  Under the circumstances, the state of nature is a state of war;  There is no place for industry in such conditions because the fruits thereof is uncertain and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation, no arts, no letters, no society.  In state of Nature, Hobbes says that the life of man was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. As there was no common superior which could hold all the people in check, there is a constant war of all against all. The Social Contract People were significantly fed up with the state of uncertainty prevailing in the state of nature and motivated by the instinct of self- preservation were keen to have a state. Thus Hobbes believes that the state had its origin in the foresight of men in their own preservation, and the rational desire to escape from the natural condition of war. THOMAS HOBBES' LEVIATHAN (1651)  The social contract was seen as an "occurrence" during which individuals came together and ceded some of their individual rights so that others would cede theirs  Individuals in the state of nature were apolitical and asocial  This state of nature is followed by the social contract The ceaseless conflict and strife were inevitable so long men were guided by the dictates of appetite. They could escape from it only by setting up a common power which could at the same time restrain and protect every individual. Therefore, it was felt desirable to establish a common power which could take the place of multitude of wills previously active. Each individual says to others "I authorise and give up my right of governing myself to this man or to this assembly of men, on this condition that thou give the right to him and authorise all his actions in the like manner". -Hobbes Features of Hobbes's Social Contract Hobbes's Social Contract is outlined below:  The Commonwealth or State is based on reason and not on fear. People render obedience to the authority of the state because of the rational apprehension that the end of self-preservation is better served within the state. However, Hobbes further points out that the persons who obey and respect the authority of the state purely on rational grounds are very few;  The people are bound to submit to the will of the state or the ruler and enjoy no right against the sovereign;  The parties to the contract are individuals (the natural men), not groups of any sort. The Sovereign is not a party to the contract  but rather the product of the contract. He therefore not only stands outside it but is also above it. In this way Hobbes tries to justify absolute or despotic rule and denies all right of resisting the state to the individual;  The minority has no right of object to the choice of the majority in the selection of the sovereign;  The effective agency which socialises the man is the fear of punishment and not reason. The efficacy of the law depends on the extent to which the state has the power t enforce it. As Hobbes himself puts it "Covenants without sword are but words". SOCIAL CONTRACT OF HOBBES AND LOCKE: A COMPARISON Hobbes and Locke argued that the state had arisen out of a voluntary agreement, or social contract, made by individuals who recognised that only the establishment of sovereign power could safeguard them from the insecurity of the state of nature. Hobbes on Sovereignty The sovereign was created as a result of the contract and enjoys all the powers which were surrendered by the people at the time of concluding the contract. Features of Hobbesian view of Sovereignty  According to Hobbes the individuals cannot lawfully enter into a new contract to create a new Leviathan, because the contract concluded by them with the first sovereign is irrevocable;  As the sovereign was not a party to the contract it cannot be quoted against him without his own approval. The people also do not possess power to revolt against the authority of the sovereign because this would mean reverting back to the conditions prevailing it the state of nature;   The sovereign enjoys absolute powers to make laws and this power of the sovereign is not limited by any human authority, superior or inferior;  The sovereign is not bound by the opinion and wishes of the people because they have made a complete surrender of their power to the sovereign. The sovereign is not only the chief source of all laws but also their sole interpreter;  Another prominent feature of Hobbes's sovereign is that he vests it with indivisible, inseparable and incommunicable powers;  Hobbes created an absolute, indivisible and inalienable sovereign.  Even the right to property was created by the sovereign. This implies that he can resort to taxation without the consent of the people.  The sovereign is the chief source of justice and enjoys exclusive powers to declare war and make peace. Hobbes on Laws Hobbes said that law is an important instrument which controls the behaviour of the individuals and lays down the norms or standards by which the goodness and badness, rightness and wrong-subject, those rules, which the commonwealth had commanded him, by word, writing or other sufficient sign of the will, to make use of, for the distinction of right and wrong. There are no limitations on the laws enacted by the sovereign in the nature of natural law, divine law or the international law. Rights and Liberty  As regards the freedom in the second group Hobbes permits the individual the right to contravene the state if he is asked to do anything which compromises his life or body. However, it would be wrong to infer from the above that Hobbes does not permit any liberty to the individual under Leviathan. He does permit liberty, but this liberty is essentially of a negative nature.  Hobbes justifies the grant of liberty within the limitations of laws and does not find any contradiction between the two. Individualism and Absolutism in Hobbes The whole work of Hobbes breathes the bitterest hatred not only of individualism as a theory, but even of those elementary rights which none but the most backward nations now deny to the individual in practice. Hobbes has been carried up and down for his political theory which has been described as pure and naked despotism by some, while the others consider him as the greatest individualist.