Hobbes and The State of Nature | Thomas Hobbes and Leviathan

even if you aren't into philosophy you've probably heard of Thomas Hobbes you probably learned about him in high school world history and you may remember him as the big government evil guy which is obviously a bit of a mischaracterization you were probably more a fan of John Locke who seemed like the freedom guy plus he didn't look as mean now if you dig in slightly more to learn about Thomas Hobbes you may think that he believes that human nature is evil and you probably came across his famous quote the life of man solitary poor nasty

brutish and short and yeah that's a real quote but what's the context of that quote what does Hobbes actually think about human nature and most importantly why is Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes named after him foreign so obviously the book we're using by Thomas Hobbs is leviathan specifically this modernized Edition from Hackett I mean Hobbes did write other stuff but you know no one seems to care in Chapter 13 Hobbes is talking about man in this state of nature now the state of nature is a pretty popular destination within philosophy especially with political philosophers like

Robert nozick essentially this state of nature has no government or order or any sort of organization think caveman times it's in the state of nature where we can best observe what humanity is actually like free from any influences that come as a result of society Hobbs claims that in this state humans are fairly equal in many respects the difference between people is not so considerable as that one man can claim to himself any benefit that another may also claim now look whenever a discussion of human nature arises many Skeptics will point to the vast diversity

of humanity as a way to ignore the question and I'm even one of those people I mean how can you have a grander theory of all Humanity when each of us is so individually different well to play Devil's Advocate against myself Hobbs is looking at diversity within the state of nature in today's society we have all these different human inventions which let us express our individuality and yep I'm sure social critics and anti-capitalists are writing out long paragraphs about how it's all fake diversity and individuality in our market economy but it at least seems like

we're more unique and different which is what's playing with my mind therefore I can't really judge what Hobbs is claiming very well because I don't know what diversity really looks like in a state of nature and I'm pretty sure he doesn't think The Flintstones counts which to be fair isn't the state of nature because they have a society regardless take it or leave it Hobbs thinks people are pretty equal and less diverse in the state of nature but this equality then leads to conflict from a quality of ability arises equality of Hope in attaining our

ends therefore if any two men desire the same thing that they cannot both enjoy they become enemies and in the way to their end and ever to destroy or subdue one another so you're in this state of nature as a caveman and you see some fruit but there's another caveman just across from you because you're not dealing with an army of caveman or your government but just one seemingly equal caveman you're gonna think you could take the other in order to get the fruit but conflict is not limited to our fight for resources Hobbes is

able to identify three main areas of conflict that exists in the state of nature first competition second diffidence third Glory the first makes men invade for game the second for safety and the third for reputation now this second cause of safety is really big here because even if you have it all if you notice some Outsider just chilling a couple yards away from you you're gonna get kind of suspicious it's like you're playing Minecraft and you build your house and everything but Over Yonder is a creeper he's pretty far away and probably won't bother you

but in the back of your mind you'll always feel that need to kill him in order to feel truly safe so it's almost like you're in a constant state of anxiety and conflict okay so that's a very general gist of hobbs's thoughts on humans and the state of nature and while you may have objections he anticipates them he says I look you may not agree with my theory but look at the way you act in practice you lock your doors and your car you avoid dangerous areas of your city you don't post your credit card

information on social media you take steps to protect yourself and your belongings against other humans and this is in a society with laws and government and police imagine what steps you'd have to take in a world without that stuff alright so that's Hobbs is kind of backup defense comment below if you disagree with this Theory and if so how would you respond to his more practical defense now I want to end on a point that's both important but also not important I know that sounds paradoxical it's important if you want to win internet arguments but

not really important in the practical sense essentially it might be a mischaracterization to say that Hobbes thinks human nature is evil this is why to this war of every man against every man this also is consequent that nothing can be unjust the Notions of right and wrong Justice and Injustice have no place where there is no common power there is no law where no law no Injustice I mean I think for Hobbes and the rest of us in our society biased Minds it's evil but for those humans in that state of nature it isn't evil

or just because there's no law but I mean practically speaking I think we can all agree that killing some random stranger out of fear that they'll get to you first is pretty evil now obviously Hobbes gives a fix or natural answer to this state of nature but because this isn't a political philosophy Channel I'll leave it at that I just wanted to explore haas's argument on human nature because it can make a practical difference in how you view others depending on whether you agree or disagree with it but comment below oh wait wait wait I

forgot Hobbs is named after Thomas Hobbes not because of Any character similarities but as a shout out to the political science department at Bill watterson's College okay now comment below your thoughts subscribe like the video and I wish you all a beautiful rest of your day [Music]