A Conversation between Vaclav Havel, Thomas Hobbes and John Lock on the Idea of Liberty - Essay Example

A Conversation between Vaclav Havel, Thomas Hobbes and John Lock on the Idea of Liberty HAVEL: I would like to welcome you gentlemen to this lunch.This is unique opportunity to discuss how the world has changed since you wrote a famous works. HOBBES: Famous! I thought I would be long forgotten by this time. HAVEL: One of your ideas became central to our series of countries. HOBBES: Which one was that There were so many. HAVEL: I mean respect for the unique human being. HOBBES: Ah yes, you mean the idea that an individual and revolt against the government if it isn't representing him properly HAVEL: Yes and that's exactly what I did. HOBBES: But you became president of the gold country didn't you What is this president (Locke arrives) LOCKE: Gentlemen, I'm sorry that I'm late. HOBBES: There is no need to apologize, we all have our free will! If you want to be late you can be late. (All laugh) LOCKE: I was interested Mr. Havel in your idea that you are now living in a kind of enlightenment. Is it the same as ours HAVEL: In some senses although in others it seems to be the opposite. HOBBES: You mean the fact that you still believe in gods and devils that you know so much more about the world than we ever did. HAVEL Exactly. LOCKE: But this photograph that I see here of the earth from the moon, does that not show that you are the ultimate in an enlightened people HAVEL: Yes but we still kill each other over what god looks like. You remember the image of the Bedouin on his camel, wearing jeans under his clothes HOBBES: Yes and what of these jeans (HAVEL shows that he is wearing some) HOBBES: Most uncomfortable looking and what of them HAVEL: It is the perfect image for the world I live in. People are confused. They look towards the past for comfort, but live in a scary present. LOCKE: The same happened in our time. Some people were force to say things that were not true because the church did not want them to tell the truth. HOBBES: But men must obey God. It is the only way to salvation. LOCKE: I agree with Jesus on the matter, render unto Caesar that which is Caeser's and render unto god that which is god's. HOBBES: Yes I meant to ask you about that. HAVEL: What HOBBES: The fact that you say that god of these dying in your world. That these inalienable rights come from god but at the same time destroy him. HAVEL: not necessarily destroy him, but at least to change our view of what he is. That is what I mean by talking about the Anthropic Cosmological Principal. HOBBES: Ah yes, the idea that the universe . . . . What is that word you used HAVEL: Evolved. HOBBES: And I assume from the context that it means how the universe came about - you are suggesting that it developed over time HAVEL: Exactly. HOBBES; The Bible says it was created in seven days. LOCKE: Or rather seven units of time - we are not entirely sure of the translation, surely you know that. HOBBES: But the Bible is infallible . . . HAVEL: Gentlemen, gentlemen, it is difficult enough to talk about politics on its won, with getting into the territory of politics and religion. (All three men laugh) HOBBES: But seriously, your whole speech seemed to be heading in that direction. The idea of this self-transcendence - that all human beings are somehow linked to the universe by being reflected in it. The idea that of all the possible universes that God might have created, He chose this one . . . LOCKE: Or evolved, I like the idea of that. I must read more about it. HOBBES: Evolved then. That this one evolved rather than all the . . . LOCKE: I feel, thinking about it, that the two are not mutually exclusive. HOBBES: Meaning LOCKE: This Enlightenment that I am said to have created in England, it was based upon the idea of science, that things could be explained but that did not necessarily suggest that God does not exist. It merely showed how wonderful His universe is. HAVEL: That's exactly the point. It doesn't really matter whether God exists or not . . . HOBBES; I must protest. HAVEL: All that matters is that we are anchored on this tiny planet, apparently alone in the universe and yet part of it. LOCKE: This planet is not so small. HAVEL (taking photo of Earth from the Moon from his pocket): Look: this is a photograph of the Earth from the Moon. LOCKE: Photograph HAVEL: Paper that reacts to light, preserving an image of the light that was exposed on it. LOCKE: Remarkable! (Taking the photograph, showing it to Hobbes) There must have been a few rather worried painters when this piece of magic came out. HAVEL: Not magic, just science. LOCKE: But all science looks like magic if you are far enough away from it. HAVEL: True. This photograph, it was published in newspapers all over the world and showed people how very small the world is, how we are lost in the blackness of space and how we should stop our present course of constant wars. LOCKE: Did it work HAVEL: No. HOBBES: Of course not: the individual will look at this photograph and then forget about it in the next moment. Most people are only concerned with their immediate life: their family, friends, job, getting food on the table. They don't have the time for this kind of thing. HAVEL: Precisely, that's why we need to. HOBBES: But you said that you were some kind of a King, is that right HAVEL: President. The people voted for me. HOBBES: What, every man in the kingdom HAVEL: Every person in the country. LOCKE (incredulous) Women HAVEL: Women. LOCKE: That is going too far - Enlightenment is one thing, but allowing women to have control within a country - it, well, as I think my friend here would say, it goes against God. HOBBES; But whose God (All three laugh.) HOBBES: Exactly. And at the end of your speech you said (taking a copy of it from his pocket) "yes, the only real hope of people today is probably a renewal of our certainty that we are rooted in the earth and, at the same time, in the cosmos." I think that seems to say that your modern philosopher was right when he said, "only a God can save us now." LOCKE: Perhaps our young President here was being ironic. HAVEL: No - quite serious. HOBBES; So the age of the philosopher-king, or at leas the philosopher-president has arrived at last, I always knew that if people went by my . . . HAVEL: Oh no, that age hasn't come. HOBBES: But you were a playwright, is that not right HAVEL: Yes. LOCKE: And now you rule your country HAVEL: Yes. HOBBES: Well . . . HAVEL: But I'm the only one - most world leaders have got there through the mouth of a gun, through being the puppet of business interests, through luck, or through a combination of all three. LOCKE: Little has changed. HOBBES: You mean, world leaders don't have discussions like this HAVEL: Oh no. (He laughs) Most of them wouldn't even understand what we have been talking about. HOBBES: How sad! LOCKE: Indeed. But then, nothing really changes, only our knowledge can redeem us. HOBBES: And justice, don't forget justice. HAVEL. Indeed. Well (raises his glass), here's to Knowledge and Justice. May they rule supreme. (They all toast one another.) Read More