Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) Mechanical Psychology of Man

■ Human thought:
■ Born on April 5, 1588 ■ sense experience
■ English political philosopher ■ Hobbes conclusion: sense experience is
■ first political scientist deceptive and subjective because the image of
■ Leviathan (1651)-masterpiece an object is merely the consequence of motions
■ contribution to social contract theory of the material world and resides within the
■ Main concern: social and political order perceiver
■ “good” and “useful”-subjective
Why Thomas Hobbes was called ■ good and the just are indistinguishable
himself the true political philosopher? from pleasure and pain (preferences)
■ discovered the principles of underlying
political order and the means of securing civil Crucial point: Allows Hobbes to claim there no
peace standards of justice or good by which we can
■ accuses his predecessors of errors that judge the conduct of government Government
fomented sedition, anarchy and civil war is free to define the good and the just in a way
■ distinction between virtue and vice that is useful for providing order and security
■ grounded in nature not in positive law
.■ Mechanistic account:
Why Hobbes was considered as the founder of ■ Sense perception is inseparable from
the modern doctrine of natural right? materialism that restricts human knowledge to
■ grounds his political science in a moral or knowledge of the material world
natural law ■ Materialistic account of the senses:
■ Modern doctrine of natural right ■ Knowledge is not possible through sense
■ Individuals construct government to secure experience
their natural rights. ■ a method is required to overcome the
■ Hobbes: unreliability of the sense
■ Natural right- desire for self
preservation (the rational expression of the fear ■ Mental discourse:
of death) ■ The succession of thought to another, is
■ Logical conclusion: peace and also understood mechanically
preservation of mankind ■ Speech is not natural to man
■ Role of the Government: enforce these ■ Mental discourse was limited to the
rational precepts or laws of nature and secure images and representations of causes and
the natural rights of the individua effects with corporeal bodies (something that
has a physical form)
Leviathan ■ desires of the body both guide and prompt
■ commonwealth or state mental discourse
■ an artificial man “of greater stature and ■ Whenever desire arises, it causes the
strength” than the original work of nature, thought of the means to satisfy the desire, and
man. further, the thoughts respecting the means to
■ “the art whereby God has made and that means, until we have within our grasp or
governs the laws of motion power to satisfy our desire
■ By imitating this art man can make an ■ Due to material necessity people seek by
“artificial man” that resembles all automata or reason the cause
mechanical engines and the means that will satisfy their desires
■ to create great leviathan ■ Man’s ability is, therefore, the power to
■ Natural philosophy locate the origin of his desire and the means to
■ ground political science in the physical satisfy it
Sciences ■ Hobbes rejects Aristotle account of reason as
the ruling and architectonic element of the soul

■ Hobbes:
■ The desires of the body, as articulated by
Hobbesian Nominalism and The the passions, are primary and establish the
ends of man, while the task for reason is to
satisfy these desires

Hobbes’ assumptions, cont’d

■ People are self-interested

■ They seek to attain what they desire
■ Security (avoid death and injury)
■ Reputation (status)
■ Gain (possessions)
■ Aristotle
■ reasoned speech (reason and speech,
logos) are naturally linked, supporting the
conclusion that man is by nature political
■ Argument:
■ reasoned speech reveals the
advantageous, the harmful, and also the just
and unjust, the foundations of political Life
■ Hobbes admit that reason is natural, he
claims that speech had to be acquired
or invented because man was not by
nature fit for communal living
■ Hobbes calls speech “the most noble
and profitable” invention of man
■ without the use speech, man could not
invent science
■ Science is necessary to overcome the
deceptiveness of sense experience and
is linked to “the right definitions of
names” or nominalism

Nominalism
■ The doctrine that nothing is general or
universal
■ All universal knowledge is illusionary
■ Whatever we know of this world is an
artificial creation of our mind, that is
understanding of the word must rely on
models or intellectual constructs
 ■ consists of the continual motion from one
The Motions of Man and the desire to the next
State of Nature ■ Man is characterized by restlessness
■ Hobbe’s argument:
Mechanical Psychology of Man ■ All pleasures, desires, hope and fears are
■ Hobbes Task: motions, the law of inertia governs them
■ Distinguishing man from other living ■ Result:
matter by identifying his peculiar motion ■ Man’s motion is a restless search to
■ ENDEAVOR acquire power or command over those things
■ The beginnings of motion within the conducive to a contented life
human body, before they produce action ■ motion of mankind:
■ when endeavor moves towards it cause- it ■ “a perpetual and restless desire for
is called appetite or desire power after power, that ceases only in death”
■ when endeavor is away from its cause- it is ■ Success in attaining felicity in this life is
called aversion momentary and depends on the acquisition of
■ deliberation- weighing of appetites against power or command over those things
aversions necessary for life.
■ Hopes against fears ■ Man general inclination is a reflection of
■ Pleasures against pains his tenuous grasp over the necessary things in
The will to choose or pursue an life, which points to the malevolence of nature
action-last appetite in the toward man
process of deliberation ■ The inference can be drawn that nature
■ deliberative hedonism- calculus of sanctions man’s selfishness and egocentric
pleasure and pain character
■ If the universe is nothing but bodies and ■ Man is by nature not fit for civil society
their motions, then living creatures like man can ■ Man is a wolf to his fellow man
be understood as being moved by the motions ■ If man is by nature a political..
of pleasure and pain ■ Hobbes argument: he must originally lived in
General view: everything in the universe is a prepolitical states (state of nature)
produced by nothing other than matter in ■ Hobbes understands that if the inclination of
motion man were a ceaseless desire for power, the
What is the political significance of original condition of man would be a state of
Hobbe’s notion of deliberation? war (“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short)
■ It denies the possibility of making qualitative
distinctions. State of Nature
(between good and bad)
■ By limiting human deliberation to a calculus ■ Men are equal in the faculties of body and
of quantities of mind where no man can claim to himself
pleasure and pain, any benefit to which another may aspire.
■ Hobbesian deliberation denies that ■ Consequence:
individuals are capable ■ Even “the weakest has strength enough
of making moral distinctions, leaving the way tom kill the strongest, either by secret
for the machination or by confederacy with others that
sovereign power to define authoritatively the are in the same danger with himself”
moral terms ■ The equal ability to kill reveals that man is
that makes political life possible burdened by a natural frugality of the human
■ Felicity frame.
■ continual success in obtaining those ■ The equality of bodily strength and of mind
things that satisfy our desires. implies that no man is nature superior to
■ “a continual progress of the desire, from another---- and especially no man is the natural
one object to another, the attaining of the ruler of another
former being still but the way to the latter”
■ Man’s desire is not to enjoy something Political significance
for a ■ 1. the equality of men in terms of
moment or an instant, “but to assure forever strength, mind, and vulnerability to
the way his future desire” death means that there is no natural
■ Endeavor is consistent with felicity claim to political rule-no politics is
fundamentally conventional natural inclination of man, the desire for
■ 2. Hobbe’s teaching on equality implies that power after power, we must admit that
individuals have an equal right or claim to often the desire for power is associated
consent to a government that would secure with a delight in exercising that power.
their rights- social contract theory ■ Hobbes note:
■ Competition, diffidence, and glory ■ The beginning of all motion within man is
■ 3 principle causes of quarrels among men endeavor, where every man desires what is
■ Men desire to hurt each other arises good and shuns what is evil
from the equal hope of attaining their ■ death-greatest of natural evil
ends, ■ Fear of violent death-most powerful
■ chief end: passions, the force of gravity within the
■ SELF PRESERVATION human heart
■ The competition for the scarce ■ The reflex of the fear of violent death is the
resources means of survival justifies desire for self-preservation.
acquisition through war and makes men ■ Hobbes argument:
natural enemies. ■ without common power to govern them,
■ two or more men desire and compete men naturally resort to war in the blameless
for the same things that cannot be held pursuit of self-preservation
in common or share-economy of ■ force and fraud-cardinal virtues
Nature ■ Each man id obliged to stand alone: No
■ The competition for the scarce resources man can trust another because each is
means of survival justifies acquisition through consumed with his own Preservation
war and makes men mutual enemies ■ Hence, there are no natural obligations
■ The enmity between men means that they or duties to other men..
cannot “ plan, sow, build or possess a ■ In such condition there is no place for
convenient seat” without the fear that another industry because the fruit thereof is
will attempt to seize through force or fraud the uncertain…… life of man, solitary, poor, nasty
fruits of their labor or destroy their life and brutish and short..
liberty ■ State of nature prohibits civilization
■ COMPETITION for the means of survival ■ State of misery from which every man
provokes diffidence or a mutual distrust should endeavor to escape
between men
■ distrust-prompt men to anticipate the Assumptions, cont’d
preempt the threats of other men and to ■ Their ability to attain what they desire
imagine a possibility of subjugating other men depends on their power
for the sake of self-preservation ■ Because men want a happy life, they
■ Love of glory- seek sufficient power to ensure that life
■ final cause of quarrel based on ■ All men have a “restless desire for
comparisons with others power
■ demands that all men honor him, but ■ Natural right
when that honor is not forthcoming, he ■ Laws of Nature
prepares for war
■ Hobbes argument: Hobbes’ assumptions
■ it is not unreasonable to anticipate the ■ People have the capacity to reason
warlike intention of others and “by force or ■ They weigh the costs and benefits
wiles to master the person of all men he ■ They consider the consequences of their
can, so long till he see no other power Actions
great enough to endanger him
Hobbes’ assumptions, cont’d
■ People are self-interested
■ Hobbes notes: ■ They seek to attain what they desire
■ there is a certain pleasure or delight men ■ Security (avoid death and injury)
take in contemplating their power in the ■ Reputation (status)
act of conquest, which they pursue further ■ Gain (possessions)
than their security requires.
■ If we are to trace the rise of the love of Assumptions, cont’d
glory as a cause of quarrels to the ■ But men are equal in body and mind
■ Everyone is pulled into a constant
competitive conflict for a struggle for power
■ Or at least to resist his powers being
commanded by others
■ Without a power that is able to enforce
rules, people don’t enjoy their interactions with
each other

Implications
■ The natural state of man is a war of all
against all (‘the state of nature’)
■ People who want the same things
will be enemies
■ They will use all means (including
‘force and fraud’) to attain their ends

Natural Right, The Laws of

Nature and the Political

■ State of nature (original condition of man)-a

state of war of all against all
■ No civilization-just continual fear and the
persistent danger of violent death
■ Self-preservation-natural concern of man ■ All men are equally obligated to preserve
Every man must preserve himself-first themselves and have a right to whatever means
foundation of natural right they discern will preserve their lives

Implication: The laws of nature are deduced from the

■ A right to an end implies a right to the means fundamental natural rights to
to the end; otherwise it would be vain self-preservation
■ Hobbes extends the natural right to ■ The state of nature as a state of war
self-preservation to include means to self- means no man’s natural right of self-
preservation. preservation is secure. If all men exercise their
■ Men have a right to preserve themselves by natural right, no man is secure. Every man
any means. ought to seek peace; and when peace cannot be
■ Laws of nature: necessity to seek peace and secured, he ought to pursue war.-general rule-
establish the social compact-the state fundamental law of nature
■ The state of nature presents man with a
grave problem that he must of necessity solve. 2 nd law of nature
■ The solution consist partly in the ■ When a man is willing, when others are
passions and partly in man’s reason too, for the sake of peace and security, he
.■ The fear of violent death and its more should lay down his weapons, his claims to the
rational expression, the desire for preservation , right of every means for the sake of
begin the mental discourse whereby man’s preservation, including the right to judge the
reason seeks the means to satisfy the desire: means by which they intent to preserve
■ The passion set the ends of man, while themselves
reason scouts out the mean to satisfy the ■ In what to what way to accomplish?
Passions
■ “the passions that incline men to peace are Social contract
fear of death, desire of such things as are ■ Hobbes calls the covenant
necessary to commodious living, and a hope ■ Right to all the means necessary for self-
by their industry to obtain them” preservation- a right that prevents men living in
■ when compared to the principal causes of peace.
quarrels, fear of death and desire for comfort ■ When man renounces or transfers a right, he
are both among the inclinations to peace and is bound not to hinder those to whom he has
war; vanity is the odd man out. granted the right from exercising it.
■ It is the fear of violent death that is “the
passion to be reckoned upon” secondary, or at 3rd law of nature
least subservient, to the necessity of ■ Men perform their covenants-origin of
preservation justice
■ Hobbes task: use the fear of violent death to ■ “For where no covenant hath preceded,
overcomes man’s vanity and his inclination to there hath no right been transferred, and every
war man has right to everything, and consequently
■ How is this possible? no action can be unjust”
■ Hobbe’s mechanical psychology of man, ■ To break the covenant is to be unjust, which
which not only reveals those motions or is to exercise a right that one no longer
passions, which can be relied upon to construct possesses.
civil society, but also holds out the possibility of ■ Justice according is contractual
manipulating human nature for the sake of the ■ Political society is fundamentally artificial and
political order, security and peace therefore must be constructed

■ The laws of nature are derivative and

subordinate to the fundamental natural right of Conclusion:
self-preservation, which is the most powerful ■ Individuals must renounce their right to
passion of man, the fear of violent death judge the means by which the are to preserve
■ “the liberty each man hath to use his themselves
own power, as he will himself, for the ■ Questions of justice, right and wrong are to
preservation of his own nature, of his own life” be determined by the civil Authority
■ The civil authority must be the supreme
arbitrator and authority of what is good and
 evil, just and unjust, a power to be fully ■ If the government is necessary to make
obeyed. laws of nature effectives, it must be powerful
■ Hobbes teaching on natural law culminated enough to keep them in awe and stop them
in the absolute sovereign, or absolute from acting on their mutual fear.
government. ■ While men’s mutual fear of each other
■ Absolute authority of government to characterizes life in the state of nature
define just and the unjust ■ The fear of government characterizes civil
society.
Hobbe’s doctrine of natural right ■ Civil society-depends on government
■ Sovereign secure universal agreement to the providing the only object to fear—which men
lawful just and true should pay serious attention too
■ Sovereign like a “political geometer” Argument:
■ The sovereign relies to force and fear to ■ When government is weak, every man may
secure agreement rely rightly on his own strength and guile to
protect himself from the actions of others.
Legal positivism(modern day) ■ To secure the natural rights of each
■ government determining the meaning individual, Hobbes’s sovereign must retain the
of justice through its law full natural right, incldg the right to every means
■ Fear of violent death-compels men to sue for available for survival
peace ■ Hobbe’s sovereign is absolute
■ Peace can be secured only if man escapes his ■ Every individuals in absolute in the state of
natural condition and constructs political nature
order ■ The horrors and terrors of the state of nature
■ Reason is no longer sovereign because the justify the absolute government because they
passion determine the ends of government— are far worse than an absolute sovereign
namely peace and preservation—but reason ■ peace and commodious living is
does discern the full meaning of passions possible in an absolute government
■ If justice is contractual, it is effective only if ■ Absolute sovereignty is established when
men are obliged to fulfill their contracts. men confer all their power and strength on
■ However, contracts and covenants of mutual one man or an assembly of men through a
trust where there is no fear of nonperformance contract or covenant
by either party is invalid. ■ Covenant-entails relinquishing natural
■ Coercive power needed to compel men to right to use and judge the means necessary for
the performance of their covenants self-preservation by transferring this right into
■ Terror of some punishment greater than the the hands of the absolute sovereign.
benefit they expect by the breach of their ■ Hobbes rejects the notion of limited
Covenant government in favor of absolute sovereignty
■ Covenants not supported by the sword are ■ Limited government fails to secure the
merely words without “ strength to secure a individual’s natural right to self-preservation,
man at all” returning him back to the state of nature
■ No power to force the observation of the ■ everyone must acknowledge that they are
laws of nature, no man can afford to obey those the authors of this sovereign power and that
dictates of reason they have authorized the actions of the
sovereign for the sake of peace and
preservation.
■ The absolute sovereign is not representative
of the will of the citizens, but a separate will
Hobbe’s political remedy to the difficulty posed authorized to secure the natural rights of
by the asociality of man the citizens
■ Absolute sovereign ■ The absolute sovereign is not subject to
■ terror and punishment is greater force or limited by the covenant –it was not
than the anticipated benefits that could be party to the covenant- it was the
derived from breaching covenants. outcome of the covenant
■ Calculated self-interest is the only basis ■ All legislation of the sovereign can be
of justice and morality viewed as self-legislation
Absolute Sovereignty, Liberty ■ no citizen can rightfully resist the will of
and the Rights of Subjects the sovereign or judge the actions of
the sovereign of any crime or injury ■ because men would still be rational
[Link] oneself of wrongdoing egoists and would renege whenever it was to
■ Hobbes logic: to do injustice to oneself their advantage
is impossible ■ They would have to transfer them to some
■ Obedience-exchanged for protection person or body who could make the agreement
■ The security of the citizenry rests in the stick
comforting knowledge that any man ■ By having the authority to use the
who seeks to harm another has more to combined force of all the contractors to hold
fear from the sovereign than he can everyone to it
contemplate benefiting from any crime. ■ Agreements alone don’t have any
force without some coercive power to back
Characteristics of the ‘state of them up
nature’
■ People are insecure, and live in a constant The solution: surrender of sovereignty
fear of injury and death ■ The only way to provide social order is
■ There is no place for industry, because the for everyone to acknowledge a perpetual
fruit of it is uncertain sovereign power (the state, or Leviathan)
■ Hence, no agriculture, navigation, against which each of them would be powerless
building, culture, science ■ This represents a coercive solution to
■ Life is short and unpleasant the problem of social order. Due to rational
■ Nothing can be unjust egoism, the only means of providing order is by
■ The notions of right and wrong, justice and establishing a state that would punish would-be
injustice have no place miscreants.
Hobbes’ defense of his assumptions
■ The fact that people lock their doors at
night (even in the 16th century!) provides
support for Hobbes’ view that people are
naturally inclined to use ‘force and fraud’
Hobbes
■ People don’t like the state of nature
■ They therefore have a desire for social
Order
Summary of the problem of social order
■ Man is a rational egoist who fears death
■ His egoism all others
■ He is engaged in a zero-sum game
■ His fear of death and desire for ‘commodious
living’ social order

Hobbes’ solution
■ Under these conditions, how can social order
be attained?
■ In the state of nature, people have liberty
■ Since man is rational, he will never use his
power to harm himself
■ Man will try to attain peace only if he is
convinced that everyone else will do the same

How to make sure that

everyone would seek peace?
■ No use for everyone to merely agree to give
up their individual sovereignty