Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, first published in 1651, is an ambitious philosophical work that covers numerous topics, including science, religion, and politics. However, Hobbes’s primary argument focuses on the state of humankind in nature—that is, how a human being behaves outside of civilized society. The state of humankind in nature prior to the advent of civilized society was a popular philosophical topic in Hobbes’s day, and most philosophers based their arguments on the works of Aristotle, who argued that humans are naturally social and prone to working together for the common good. Hobbes, however, completely dismisses this idea. According to Hobbes, human beings outside of civilized society are not social, and they are driven solely by self-interest and the desire to stay alive by any means necessary. Everyone has an equal right to everything in nature, which leads to a state of war and makes nature an exceedingly dangerous and violent place. Through Leviathan, Hobbes contends that war is an implicit part of nature, and he ultimately argues that the creation of civil society is the only way to escape the danger of nature and achieve true security and happiness.
Hobbes argues that human beings in nature are antisocial and aggressive, which makes nature a hostile place and true happiness and security impossible. The “right of nature,” according to Hobbes, “is the Liberty each man hath, to use his own power, as he will himselfe, for the preservation of his own Nature; that is to say, of his own Life: and consequently, of doing any thing, which in his own Judgement, and Reason, hee shall conceive to the aptest means thereunto.” In other words, it is the right of everyone in nature to do whatever they must to ensure their own survival, which means one has a right to anything—and anyone—that makes that endeavor possible. In nature, one can steal and kill, as long as such actions are done to preserve one’s life. Hobbes contends that all voluntary actions of humans in nature “tend to the benefit of themselves,” and he further maintains that everyone’s conservation and contentment is “committed to [their] own care.” Hobbes does not mean to imply that humans in nature don’t interact or attempt to reach various agreements, or covenants, to preserve life and achieve happiness; however, since everyone in nature has the same rights and everyone is committed primarily to self-preservation, there is little or no obligation to others. According to Hobbes, the state of nature is one in which there is no culture, no knowledge of science, no art, and no society to speak of. In nature, there is only “continuall feare, and danger of violent death,” Hobbes says, “And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.” As everyone in nature is concerned only with themselves and often at the expense of others, there can never be any security or happiness in nature.
Furthermore, since everyone in nature is equal and after the same thing (self-preservation), and they can destroy and subdue one another in the process, Hobbes argues that war in nature is inevitable. In nature, where there is not a central power, people are in a condition that Hobbes calls “Warre; and such a warre, as is every man, against every man.” In short, there is an “everyone for themselves” mentality in nature, which makes war and nature synonymous terms. According to Hobbes, war does not consist only of actual fighting and battles; war exists “in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary.” As there can never be assurance to the contrary in nature, nature is always in a state of war. Because of this constant state of war, nothing in nature can ever be unjust, and traditional ideas of right and wrong do not exist. “Where there is not common Power,” Hobbes argues, “there is no Law: where no Law, no Injustice.” As nature lacks a common power, it will forever be in a state of war, which again means that people in nature can never be truly secure or happy.
It is precisely this lack of security and happiness that leads people to abandon nature and create civil societies, which Hobbes refers to as common-wealths. By definition, a common-wealth is a multitude of people voluntarily joined together as one under a common power, and Hobbes’s idea of a perfect society—or at least as perfect as a society can be—is what he calls “the Leviathan.” In a common-wealth, one forfeits their right to self-preservation and places that right in the hands of the common power, which then imposes rules, ensures contracts and covenants are honored, and works for the safety and preservation of the people. The creation of civil society and the common-wealth effectively halts the state of war that plagues humankind in nature, Hobbes argues, and it is the only way to enjoy security and true happiness.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Nature, War, and Civil Society ThemeTracker
Nature, War, and Civil Society Quotes in Leviathan
To describe the Nature of the Artificiall man, I will consider
First, the Matter thereof, and the Artificer; both
which is Man.
Secondly, How, and by what Covenants it is
made; what are the Rights and just Power or
Authority of a Soveraigne; and what it is that
preserveth and dissolveth it.
Thirdly, what is a Christian Common-wealth.
Lastly, what is the Kingdome of Darkness.
For the Thought of the warre, introduced the Thought of delivering up the King to his Enemies; The Thought of that, brought in the Thought of the delivering up of Christ; and that again the Thought of 30 pence, which was the price of that treason: and thence easily followed that malicious question; and all this in a moment of time; for Thought is quick.
And therefore the voluntary actions, and inclinations of all men, tend, not only to the procuring, but also to the assuring of a contented life; and differ onely in the way: which ariseth partly from the diversity of passions, in divers men; and partly from the difference of the knowledge, or opinion each one has of the causes, which produce the effect desired.
Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man. For Warre, consisteth not in Battel lonely, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the Will to contend by Battell is sufficiently known: […] All other time is peace.
Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish from withal. In such a condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no Culture of the Earth; […] no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.
The Passions that encline men to Peace, are Feare of Death; Desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living; and a Hope by their Industry to obtain them. And Reason suggesteth convenient Articles of Peace, upon which men may be drawn to agreement. These Articles, are they, which otherwise are called the Lawes of Nature: whereof I shall speak of more particularly, in the two following chapters.
The Right of Nature, which Writers commonly call Jus Naturale, is the Liberty each man hath, to use his own power, as he will himselfe, for the preservation of his own Nature; that is to say, of his own Life; and consequently, of doing any thing, which in his own Judgement, and Reason, hee shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto.
Men are freed of their Covenants two ways; by Performing; or by being Forgiven. For Performance, is the naturall end of obligation; and Forgivenesse, the restitution of liberty; as being a retransferring of that Right, in which the obligation consisted.
And in this law of Nature, consisteth the Fountain and Originall of JUSTICE. For where no Covenant hath proceeded, there hath no Right been transferred, and every man has right to every thing; and consequently, no action can be Unjust. But when a Covenant is made, then to break it is Unjust: and the definition of INJUSTICE, is no other than the not Performance of Covenant. And whatsoever is not Unjust, is Just.
Fifthly, and consequently to that which was sayd last, no man that hath Soveraigne power can justly be put to death, or otherwise in any manner by his Subjects punished. For seeing every Subject is Author of the actions of his Soveraigne; he punisheth another, for the actions committed by himselfe.
Now a Monarchy, the private interest is the same with the publique. The riches, power, and honour of a Monarch arise onely from the riches, strength and reputation of his Subjects. For no King can be rich, nor glorious, nor secure; whose Subjects are either poore, or contemptible, or too weak through want, or dissention, to maintain a war against their enemies; Whereas in a Democracy, or Aristocracy, the publique prosperity conferres not so much to the private fortune of one that is corrupt, or ambitious, as doth many times a perfidious advice, a treacherous action, or a Civill warre.
Of which, this is one, That a man to obtain a Kingdome, is sometimes content with lesse Power, that to the Peace, and defence of the Common-wealth is necessarily required.
This considered, the Kingdome of Darknesse, as it is set forth in these, and other places of the Scripture, is nothing else but a Confederacy of Deceivers, that to obtain dominion over men in this present world, endeavor by dark, and erroneous Doctrines, to extinguish in them the Light, both of Nature, and of the Gospell; and so to dis-prepare them for the Kingdome of God to come.
