Thomas Hobbes

Hobbes

Intro: Thomas Hobbes is known as the first modern thinker in the history of western philosophy. He is the first one to give the complete theory of sovereignty.
His work- Leviathan

He had seen anarchy during the puritan revolution of seventeenth century in Britain. Hence his core concern was the establishment of peace and order in the society.
In medieval times, theory of two swords led to chaos. Emperor and pope as two poles of authority.
Mac had separated church and state. Hobbes puts church under the state.

Belongs to social contract tradition wherein state is a result of social contract.
Belongs to Positive school of law- state is the source of laws.
Adv of positive law:

does not believe in natural law that is law derived from reason but in positive law as for Hobbes man has reason only till the point he understands what is good or bad for him he does not have sufficient reason to control his desires.
Calls Natural law as “counsels of prudence”
Security of life is most important. Right to life is given to man by nature and hence is absolute. Hence greatest of all individualists.
He is both, methodological individualist and a normative individualist. On the basis of "resolutive-compositive method" he scientifically established that man is utilitarian by nature. As a normative individualist, he has given the absolute right to life to an individual.
Since he has seen anarchy hence he wanted there should be a centre authority with absolute powers to preserve life of man. Hence he is also known as greatest of all absolutist.
Md Ayoob: COVID 19 pandemic has demonstrated that the nation state is not only alive but absolutely essential.
the international angle would be the making of UN wherein the states came under a UN charter to curb anarchy in global affairs .
State absolutism:

Inspired from Aristotle’s theory of state that gives state primacy over all other institutions
Since only state has authority so monistic theory of sovereignty. Hence also known as greatest of all absolutist (talks of an all powerful absolute state)
State is not sharing authority with any other institution hence monistic theory of sovereignty
Absolute state means if state law exists man or any other association will have no freedom to act according to his choice

GH Sabine says There is no contradiction between his individualism and state absolutism. It is in the interest of individualism that state absolutism becomes necessary. Only a centralised state with institutional law and order can prevent anarchy and to save life of man
Hobbes as a scholar of possessive individualism-
Says all men are guided by pain and pleasure. Says all men have passions and it is natural for them to not being able to control their passions. Hence first scholar to establish equality between men. Says it is as natural to be utilitarian as it the earth revolves around the sun.
In the words of Hobbes- man is selfish by nature, self interest is the mainspring of human action. Men are moved to action not by reason or intellect but by Their appetites, desires and passions

For Hobbes all men have passion so all are equal. For Locke all men have reason so all are equal
Man is individualistic by nature and social only by compulsions.
Hence , Removes sense of guilt in people for being selfish.
Man wants pleasure, power gives pleasure so life of man is a continuous search for power.
This continuous search for power creates a situation of competition and anarchy. In such situation man’s life becomes nasty,poor,brutish and short. Hence to protect the life of man from the anarchy, an all powerful state is needed.
Uses resolutive compositive method of descartes to prove his theories. First thinker to apply scientific methods for the study of politics. Because it was an age of science, his theory would not have been accepted had there been no scientific approach. Uses physics, psychology and geometry to explain political phenomena.
Says particles in brain get inclined towards the things which give pleasure and shift away from things that give pain.

Says man has liberty where law is silent. Hence man has no liberty in case there exists a law made by the state.
says state should punish man if he does not follow law of the sovereign. Says covenant without swords are nothing but empty words. Here he resonates Rousseau's views that man must be forced to follow the general will.
In state of nature man's life is is poor, nasty, brutish and short. State of nature is characterized by “war of all against all.”Hence state needed.
He calls state as Leviathan (all powerful). In a piece of territory, there can only be one sovereign, the state.

Hobbes brings dilemma of limited means and unlimited desires.
His political obligation is based on “consent-contract” model. For the sake of his own life, man is duty bound to follow the command of the sovereign.
Hobbes has given right to punish(including use of violence) against people who defy the command of the sovereign.

This notion of political obligation is close to Plato’s philosopher king
Also such concepts have been used by totalitarian and fascist regimes like Hitler and Mussolini to demand absolute political obligation by the citizens towards the state.

gave the theory of sovereignty which is the core concept of modern political philosophy.
Jean Bodin: state supreme in secular affairs, in religious affairs, church is supreme. But for Hobbes, in all matters state is supreme.

C B McPherson.-Calls Hobbes starts as individualistic and ends up as absolutist.

Monistic theory was seen as philosophically unsustainable by Laski since man is multi dimensional and state alone cannot fulfill all of man’s demands. In light of growth of federal form of govt, Laski held that monisitc view of sovereignty has become an impossible misadventure.

The narrow corridor- call for a less despotic leviathan calling it “shackled leviathan.” As they say brute force of leviathan is not necessary for order and discipline. Society’s socio-cultural norms too keep people disciplined.
In the Despotic Leviathan, there is too much state and too little society. In the Absent Leviathan, there is too much society and too little state. In between lies a corridor, where things are neither too hot nor too cold. Here alone, the state and society balance each other. As the one becomes more potent, so does the other. Thus, argue the authors, “for liberty to emerge and flourish, both state and society must be strong”.

Thomas Paine- rejected the view that contract can in any way be accepted as binding on future generations
Henry Maine- it is completely hypothetical concept
David Hume- Hobbes could not convince how extremely self centered man develops enough reason to enter into the contract.

Conclusion- To quote Oakeshott, Hobbesian Leviathan is the greatest masterpiece of political philosophy written in the English language.

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