Thomas Hobbes and Human Behavior
Politics in the world have gone through several changes over the years. Thomas Hobbes is one of the individuals who have been involved in changing the perspectives held concerning politics. Hobbes is generally associated with the introduction of modern politics by explaining the nature of human beings and politics. Hobbes recognizes the intellectual abilities associated with human beings and their impact on politics. Also, Hobbes addresses the way that human beings interact with the state of nature in the absence of a government. The formation of social contracts is associated with the desire of human beings to solve natural conditions that may go against the expectations of social nature. Moreover, the sovereignty in social contracts is based on the belief that everyone in the contract will keep their word. Thomas Hobbes brings new perspectives in human politics and explains the association of social nature and human attempts to create a balance in the political field.
Thomas Hobbes creates a different perspective in political science to counter the arguments raised by ancient philosophers. Generally, Hobbes is concerned with the debate concerning the definition of good and attacks explicitly the description given by Aristotle (Strauss, 2017). Hobbes instead brings out the idea of intellectual ability and argues that human beings have the ability to discern between good and evil according to the present situation. According to Hobbes, the writings of Aristotle do not serve any significant purpose in explaining the goodness in political systems. Instead, Hobbes portrays Aristotle as a sympathizer of rebels who are unsatisfied with the way politics operate. The ability that human beings have in terms of intellect is sufficient to define political good. Also, Hobbes believes in the ability of human beings to make and control politics. Generally, Hobbes associates human beings with an intellectual ability that helps them to avoid associated consequences. Moreover, humans have a way to survive without a government in the state of nature.
Humans have different ways to survive without a government in the state of nature. The state of nature places equality on all human beings. Therefore, every human has a right to claim the possession of anything that they think is rightfully theirs (Shahraeeni, Nozohur & Karimi, 2018). One of the things that human beings claim due to the equality placed on them by the state of nature is the fight for power. Competition and distrust come up due to the notion that everyone is entitled to own good things. Unfortunately, the state of nature does not supply sufficient resources, and thus, humans are continually competing to dominate the available resources. Also, the desire for power throws humans in a state of war as they strain to move to the top of the dominance ladder. However, humans are only interested in acquiring good things for themselves and fear suffering violence at the hands of other people. Therefore, humans survive by staying out of conflict instead of looking for conflicts that would lead them into violence. Hobbes bases his argument on the state of nature as the reason why humans can survive without a government. For example, humans close their doors at night to protect themselves from possible danger. Therefore, the conflicts caused by the state of nature lead to a balance in the way humans interact with each other.
The conflicts raised by social conditions force humans into seeking solutions to the conflicts. Humans know that something has to be done when conflicts threaten the existence of everyone (Tuck, 2016). The immediate action is always to seek for peace and understanding among everyone in the society. Social contracts come as a way of asking everyone from desiring to achieve everything they desire without considering the impact on other people. Social contracts call for collective input, and Hobbes believes that cooperation of everyone in the society is essential for the development of social contracts. Generally, individuals will only give up their desires if everyone in society agrees to take the same path. Therefore, social contracts are made to solve the problems caused by the desire of everyone in society, going after limited resources. Moreover, A sense of sovereignty is associated with social contracts.
The success of social contracts depends on the sovereignty associated with the contracts. Generally, nature does not impose sanctions on the administration of justice. Therefore, humans create ways to guarantee that everyone keeps their word concerning social contracts. Individuals surrender their strength into a single entity, creating sovereignty. The sovereignty created by society is powerful enough to protect the social contracts developed by humans throughout their existence.
In sum, Thomas Hobbes brings new perspectives in human politics and explains the association of social nature and human attempts to create a balance in the political field. Generally, humans have a way to survive without a government in the state of nature. Social contracts are made to solve the problems caused by the desire of everyone in society going after limited resources. The sovereignty of the people comes as a way to protect the specifications of social contracts.
References
Shahraeeni, S. M., Nozohur, Y., & Karimi, B. (2018). Hobbes Interpretation of Human Nature and its Effect on the Formation of His Political Philosophy.
Strauss, L. (2017). On the spirit of Hobbes’s political philosophy. In Thomas Hobbes (pp. 77- 106). Routledge.
Tuck, R. (2016). Hobbes, Conscience, and Christianity. The Oxford Handbook of Hobbes, 481.