Free Man in Under Hobbes' Leviathan - Essay Example

Leviathan Under Thomas Hobbes “Leviathan”, it can be said that man is free because of jus natural, common term for the Right of Nature. “Each man has the liberty to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life; and judgment, and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means that each man has a will power to do whatever he thinks can preserve his own life and consequently to do anything which he thinks is right. There must not be any hindrance or nothing must interfere so he can use his power to do what he would which is according to his judgment and to what reason dictates to him as proper. Lex naturalis or the Law of Nature is a general rule which forbids a man from doing anything which would be destructive to his life or which would omit whatever means he has for preserving his life. So there is a necessity to distinguish jus or right and lex or law. Right means freedom or liberty to carry on our will while law determines and binds someone to an obligation. The condition of man which denotes his need to preserve his life against his enemies gives every man a right to everything which means that there’s a right even to one another’s body. As long as man has this natural right to everything, a man is not secured no matter how strong or wise he can be, to keep on living according to man’s life expectancy. A precept or general rule of reason states “that every man, ought to endeavor peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek, and use, all helps, and advantages of war,”The first branch of this rule states the fundamental law of nature which is to seek peace and follow it. The second, the sum of the right of nature which states by all means we can, to defend ourselves. This second law is derived from the fundamental law of nature by which men are commanded to endeavor peace. It states “that a man be willing when others are so too, as far forth, as for peace and defense of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down his right to all things: and be contented with so much liberty against other man, as he would allow other men against himself. Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan is his premier philosophical work. According to such work, people are naturally concerned with themselves and with attaining power. People can live harmoniously together through the laws of nature but people who don’t follow the rules have a tendency to abuse the rights of those who are law-abiders. There is a need for man to voluntary give up part of their freedom so they can live peacefully together and avoid complete chaos in nature while under the power of a sovereign, or leader, in a commonwealth. People go through mental and social processes when choosing a sovereign. They also enjoy additional benefits by releasing part of their freedom. Liberty means an individual or a group is free from external restrictions imposed by other individuals, groups, government, society or restrictive conditions. It may not be absolute but it must be necessarily relative to conform to human society. We say that it is not absolute because it goes with civic responsibilities and with necessary restraints which are important for community security and welfare. Three elements must be the will to act. This means that a person acts on his own whatever he desires to do. No one requests or commands him to do such action on his own free will. Another necessary element is the absence of restraints upon such action. A person doing anything on his own free will must not be deprived of liberty to act or there must interfere with him which may prevent him from doing his will. This second element seems to contradict the meaning of liberty. Without restrictions this may not be absolute when it does not conform to human society. The third element states that there is freedom when there are the means and opportunity to act effectively. A person must be able to carry out his desire on the opportune moment. The ideal of liberty as a basic concept in Western political thought emphasized the dignity of the individual personality, human rationality and morality and the brotherhood of men. Many 18th century philosophers and revolutionaries especially in France and America affirmed that as an imprescriptible, inalienable right of man, liberty was ordained by the law of nature1. Leviathan is a deductive trilogy comprising works on Body, Man, and citizen as envisaged by Thomas Hobbes. His masterpiece, Leviathan or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil, stated in an abbreviated and pungent form, his views on Man and Citizen. It was published in 1651. Leviathan is commonly thought of as a book about politics. Hobbes’ views about man as a citizen were preceded by his account of man as a natural machine. Roughly half of the book deals with religious matters. Hobbes based his political analysis, his account of the “state of nature” and of commonwealth on his mechanical psychology. The reality beneath all the appearances of social behavior was the basic reactions of appetite and a version which appeared as the desire for power and the fear of death. A commonwealth was formed from a multitude of men by the device of authority in which men, led by their fear, gave up their “right” of unlimited self assertion and authorized a sovereign to act on their behalf. Men need security so they made a social contract where the sovereign must be absolute, otherwise, because of divided claims, they would always be in danger of relapsing into the anarchy of the state of nature from which the contract had saved them. 1. Encyclopedia Collier’s 39th ed., r.c. "Liberty." The Laws of Nature can be easier understood by knowing the fundamental right of nature on which it was based upon. Each person has the liberty to aim for self-preservation as stated in the right of nature. Law of nature, on the other hand, was discovered by reason as a rule which forbids anyone to hurt oneself and also to take away the means of self-preservation. The first fundamental law of nature which states that man should “seek Peace, and follow it” was discovered through reasoning because according to the state of nature we are at war while aiming for self-preservation. The second fundamental law of nature states that we should that we should lay down this absolute right of nature “and be contented with so much liberty against other men, as he would allow other men against himself.” It was derived from the first one. We should restrain ourselves from pursuing ends by any means necessary, in so far as other people agree to do the same. Humans lay down their right of nature in the second law on nature. It may simply be renounced saying that he waves his right of staying alive no matter who would benefit from it. It may also be transferred to someone else for some specific benefit. The first law of nature is being violated by merely renouncing the law of nature because it’s just like giving up the right to defend yourself without good reason. When the rights of self-preservation of both people are transferred to a common authority, a covenant or contract is made. The contract then became the mutually agreed upon power where the rights were transferred. One or more parties are bound to some future obligation once a covenant being a contract is made. A covenant can be regarded as valid only if a common power can enforce the terms of the contract according to Hobbes. Although two people agreed not to attack one another, they have no reason to obey the covenant without something to enforce such contract. The desire for peace may be enough to enforce the terms of the contract but it would be tempting to have a desire to cheat or maybe to attack the other person and to be thought of as the most rational course of action. A contract or covenant made in the state of nature which is in the absence of a power is void. According to Hobbes, the third law of nature came from the first two laws of nature. It states that men must comply with the covenant they made or else covenants are in vain, just empty words, right of all men to all things remains being still in the condition of war. To really have peace which outweighs the risk of breaking them, the covenants must be obeyed. Justice came from the third law of nature. Its justice when the covenant is obeyed while breaking it is injustice. From the three laws of nature, Hobbes derived nineteen total laws. Some of them range from graciousness, revenge, pride arrogance and many others. They are similar to the Golden Rule which states “do not that to another, which thou wouldst not have done to thyself.” According to Hobbes, the nineteen laws that make moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good and evil in the conversation and society of mankind2. We can say that nature had made men so equal both in mind and in body. Although we sometimes find one man manifestly stronger in body or more intelligent than another, yet when we consider their differences, they’re not so considerable. Anyone of them can’t claim that he’s better than the other. One of them may be stronger but the weaker one may have enough strength to kill the strongest, either by secret machination or by conniving with others who are equally endangered themselves. 2. “Leviathan Summary and Analysis,” last modified 2010,http://www.gradesaver.com/leviathan/study-guide/section3/ There’s also a greater equality among men as to the faculties of the mind than that of strength. Like prudence gained from experience with equal tome equal time equally bestowed all men which can equally be used by them. Men have a tendency to regard themselves to have a greater degree of wisdom than the others. Whenever men may acknowledge many others to be wittier, more eloquent or more learned, they hardly believe that there are many who are as wise as themselves. Such is the nature of man that a greater sign of the equal distribution of anything is when every man is contented with his share. Men believe that since there’s equality of ability among them, then equality of hope in attaining their desires arises. So they become enemies when they desire the same thing which they can’t both have so in the end they will either destroy or subdue one another. They will be distrustful of each other so they will find a way to secure themselves either by force or tactics to overcome each other till there’s no one left who is powerful enough to endanger him. This is generally allowed because it is one way of self-preservation3. Men continuously struggle because they have no pleasure but a great deal of hardships in maintaining the company of people who are not powerful enough to overcome him. Every man desires that he will be looked upon by his companions the way he regard himself. The three principal causes of quarrel in the nature of man are: first-competition; second-diffidence and third: first-glory. Competition makes men invade for gain; difference for safety and glory for reputation. Competition makes use of violence to make them masters of other men, wives, children, cattle. Diffidence or distrustfulness is for safety so it’s to defend them. Glory-for 3. “Leviathan Study Guide,” last modified 2006, http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-leviathan/chapanal001.html trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of under value, either directly personal, or by reflection in their relative, their friends, their nation, their profession, or their name. War is the time men live without a common power to keep them all in wonder couple with fear. Every man is against man in such war. War does not refer to battle only or the act of fighting but it also refers to the time when the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known. The notion of time is to be considered in the nature of war as if it is in the nature of weather. During the time of war when every man is enemy to every man, the same is consequent to time wherein men live without other security, than their own strength. Man has freedom to do what he wishes but together with such freedom to do what he wishes but together with such freedom man feels fear for his safety. It’s not being free in a strict sense. That is why a man arms himself when taking a journey, he wants to have a companion wherever he goes, he locks his doors when he goes to sleep, he even locks his chest of valuables inside their house. Knowing there are laws and armed public officers to punish those who would do him harm. Although he will be protected by law what would his fellow men think of him when he protects himself? Whatever a person desires and does to satisfy him means that he does not commit any transgression or sin. When a law will be made and although he was not aware of it, he will be guilty of his wrongful act. Whatever he does which gives him the feeling that he’s free to do so will cease to be considered freedom if it will be proven contrary to law. He will then be answerable for his wrong deeds so he will lose his freedom to do whatever it is that he desires to achieve. It will not be an absolute freedom but something with restrictions. Men are continuously in war so even these persons of sovereign authority. Although they are independent this means that they are free to do whatever they wish in their state or country, they are still aware of what’s happening in other places especially in their neighboring countries. They have their weapons pointing with their eyes fixed on one another. Their forts, garrisons and guns upon the frontiers of their country and their spies continuously do espionage activities on their neighboring countries. We can say that although countries are said to be free and enjoy sovereignty through international laws, they can’t feel free and enjoy such freedom to the fullest because there is a possibility that another nation might be planning to invade them. Misery oftentimes goes with the liberty of particular men 4. When man is in war against every man, it is also a consequent that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice are not considered. There is no law when there is no common power and there is no injustice when there is no law. Force and fraud are against the two cardinal virtues. Justice and injustice are none of the faculties neither of the body or the mind. They can only be found in a man who is alone in the world, as well as his senses and passions. Fear of death, desire of such things which are necessary to commodious living and a hope to obtain them by working hard are the passions that incline men to peace. These are called the Laws of Nature upon which men may be drawn to agreement. What a man desires is also what he loves. Those that he hates are things for which he has aversion. So desire and love are considered the same thing. They differ in the sense that desire denotes the absence of the object and by love, its presence. Similarly, aversion signifies the absence and by hate the presence of the object. 4. Nobles, Dec 1, 2010 (6:48 a.m.), comment on “Leviathan Paraphrased – Part 1, Chapter 2,” Inner Cog, May 29, 2006, Appetites and aversions have some of them born with men like appetite of food, appetite of excretion and exoneration. They may properly be called aversion from somewhat they feel in their bodies and some other appetites. Those which proceed from experience are appetites of particular things and they are trial of their effects upon themselves or other men. The constitution of man’s body continuously changes so it’s impossible that same things result in the same appetite and aversions. It also implies that not all men can agree in the desire is good while the object of his hate or a version is evil, the object of his contempt is vile and inconsiderable. The passions are principally, more or less the desire of power, of riches, of knowledge and of honor. All of them can be referred to us desire of power because riches, knowledge and honour are several sorts of power. A man is indifferent if he has no passion although he may be a good man. He may be free from giving offense. The happiness of his life does not depend in the repose of a mind satisfied. There is no such utmost aim or greatest good written in the books of the old moral philosophers. A man who doesn’t have desires can’t go on living than someone whose senses and imagination is not active. When the desire from one object to another is attained continuously, felicity or happiness is achieved. The object of man’s desire is not to enjoy once only but to assure the enjoyment of his future desire forever. The voluntary actions and inclinations of all men tend to assure them of a contented life. They only differ in the way which arises partly from the diversity of passions in diverse men. They also differ partly in knowledge or opinion each one has for the causes which produce the effect desired. A perpetual and restless desire of power after power ends only in death. The cause of this is not always because of man’s hopes for a more attained or that he cannot be content with a moderate power but because the power and means to live well can’t be assured which he presently have without acquiring more. Kings whose power is greatest turn their endeavors to the home by laws and abroad by wars. When that is done, there arose a new desire like fame from new conquest; in others of ease and sensual pleasure; in other admiration or being flattered for excellence in art, or other ability of the mind. Competing for riches, honour, command or other power resulted to contention, enmity and war. This was due to the way one competitor wants to attain his desire. He wants to kill, subdue, supply or repel the other. Competition of praise is inclination to a reverence of authority. Men will obey a common power because of his desire for ease and sensual delight because by such desires a man can abandon the protection that might be granted to his own industry and labor. He fears death and wounds for the same reason. On the contrary, needy and hardy men not contented with their present condition; all men ambitious of military command are inclined to continue the causes of war, stir up trouble and sedition because military honour can be achieved only through war and there’s no hope of mending an illgume except by a new shuffle. Men are bound to obey a common power because of their desire for knowledge and arts of peace. This results to desire of leisure and consequently protection from some other power than their own. Man is free because of the Right of Nature which gives him liberty or freedom to use his own power for self-preservation. It states that his freedom is absolute or have, no restrictions but then the liberty afforded a person is lost if his actions prove to be detrimental to the welfare of other persons especially his own. As man goes on living in this world, he has a right to choose his way of life. It is a choice between misery or happiness. I have mentioned so many phases of man’s life which shows that strictly speaking man is not really free. Just like the liberty given by the Right of Nature. Fear played an important role in Hobbes’ philosophy. It is the principal cause of war and the principle means to peace. It is the basis both of man’s most urgent plight and his only possible escape. It’s not fear of other men or of God or spirits at its fundamental level. Man’s basic fear of the unknown is the source of such fear. We fear anything unfamiliar to us because of lack of experience or knowledge of the external world and compounded with an ignorance of the cause of events. We fear everything upon birth and we fear particular objects like other men later5. 5. “Leviathan Summary and Analysis,” last modified 2010, http://www.gradesaver.com/leviathan/study-guide/section3/ Works Cited 1. “Leviathan Summary and Analysis,” last modified 2010, http://www.gradesaver.com/leviathan/study-guide/section3/ 2. “Short Summary Leviathan,” last modified 2010, http://www.scribd.com/doc/35223715/Short-Summary-Leviathan 3. “Leviathan Study Guide,” last modified 2006, http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-leviathan/chapanal001.html 4. Nobles, Dec 1, 2010 (6:48 a.m.), comment on “Leviathan Paraphrased – Part 1, Chapter 2,” Inner Cog, May 29, 2006, http://josephnobles.wordpress.com/2006/05/29/leviathan-paraphrased-part-1-chapter-2/ 5. Encyclopedia Collier’s 39th ed., r.c. "liberty." Read More