hobbes leviathan - zafar

8/2/2019 Hobbes Leviathan - Zafar

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The Leviathan by Hobbes (1642-1651)

Leviathan was written during the English Civil War, which impacted his famous motto of bellumomnium contra omnes (the war of all against all) and his argument for absolute monarchy toavert civil war by strong central government. Hobbess is a political theory, and not a moralistic

theory. Although he had his views (and a couple of laws of nature) addressing moral values, butthat is a tangential issue that he deals with in this document. His main concern in this socialcontract is to establish order in the society, so that the society can be protected from not onlyinternal decay, but also from external threats.

What is the nature of the normative problem?

Hobbes sought to discover rational principles for the construction of a civil polity that would notbe subject to destruction from within. He defines the state of nature as the baseline of any societyin the absence of a central authoritative body responsible for bringing order to the society. His

state of nature is defined by the following three basic instinctive traits of humans: Competition makes people invade for gain Diffidence makes people invade for safety as a result of insecurity Glory makes people invade for reputation

At the natural state of men, there is no economic activity, no cultivation; life is lonely, poor,brutish, and short. State of nature is governed by natural laws, such as law of reason to pursueones own power to preserve his life and possessing whatever he can get.

He does not necessarily consider human beings as evil, rather he is worried about stark similarityin the way all of us think, behave, and perceive events, and respond to them. He believes thatwhile people have local affections, their benevolence is limited, and they have a tendency topartiality. Concerned that others should agree with their own high opinions of themselves, peopleare sensitive to slights. They are curious about the causes of events, and anxious about theirfutures; according to Hobbes, these characteristics incline people to adopt religious beliefs,thereby increasing the potential to precipitate the state of nature quite a bit.

How can that problem be solved?

Individuals enter a social contract to avoid death and achieve perpetual peace. Creation of acommonwealth is possible through peoples free transfer of rights to a common politicalauthority named the Leviathan. People give their consent to the sovereign and become subjectsby their own will. Hobbes finds absolutist monarchy as the most efficient form of the politicalnature of the sovereign.


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How does Hobbes support this argument?

The Leviathan is appointed for the pursuit of the liberty of living. Social contract is actually asubmission: A transfer of rights from free, equal people, destroying each other in the state of nature, to the monarch who can prevent civil war. In a commonwealth, there is a power greaterthan all the people to enforce their agreement to give up some of their rights and live in peace.

The rights of the sovereign are inseparable . If sovereign has the right to control the army, but notto collect taxes, then he would not be able to support an army. Similarly, if the sovereign had theright to make laws, but not to enforce them by acting as judge, then the laws would not be useful.

What is the implication for the larger framework?

Hobbes is concerned with the avoidance of the greatest evil (death and war), the purpose of government, and the reach of its power.

Since the social covenant requires the sovereign to act as the arbiter among disputing individuals,he has an important responsibility of providing meaning to different words e.g. justice, morality,protection, equality, etc. with an intention to restore order in the society. This is, of course, inaddition to sovereigns responsibility of providing security, economic well -being, and socialprosperity to his subjects. Although, individuals still have the right to revoke the social covenantwith the sovereign in order t o protect their true liberties by resisting sovereign commands to

perform actions that would seriously jeopardize subjects safety or filial duties, yet, accordingto Pettit, the framework falls apart, if the sovereign enjoys the right to define the meaning andapplication of such terms as filial duty, safety, self -concern, danger, protect, etc.

Broader meaning of Hobbess theory, and its various nuances to other fields of policy

Hobbess the ory and international relations a realist approach:

One of the examples that Hobbes gives of his state of nature, is that all sovereigns (readcountries) are in this state with respect to one another. This makes him the father of classic realisttheory of international relations. However, unlike his concept of establishing a legal orderthrough a covenant between subjects and the sovereign (Leviathan), he dances around the idea of proposing a similar arrangement to protect international legal order, but does not venture toexplicitly state it. He considers that states, unlike individuals, do not grow old or get frail, andtherefore are less susceptible to the temptation of encroaching upon each others resources .

Therefore, he argues, that such a situation may not arise when a similar social contract is neededfor international system. However, as we have witnessed, states have shown equal susceptibilityto fall prey to their greed, insecurity, and/or vain-gloriousness to attack others. To some extent,bilateral and multilateral arrangements for arbitration and/or protection (for example, NATO,United Nations, and International Court of Justice) can be seen as an extension of HobbessLeviathan in the international order to some extent, if not fully.


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Hobbes and the game theory:

One of the unanswered questions from Hobbess social contract theory is as to what is the exactreason that makes it the case (supposing Hobbes is right) that our communal life is prone todisaster when we are left to interact according only to our own individual judgments. Therecould be only one of two reasons: 1) either individuals are not rational and indulge their currentbehavior without properly realizing its impact over their long-term interest; 2) alternatively, itmay be that people in the state of nature are fully rational, but are trapped in a situation thatmakes it individually rational for each to act in a way that is sub-optimal for all, perhaps findingthemselves in the familiar prisoner's dilemma of game theory .

Distinctions between Hobbes and Locke:

Locke argues that the state of nature is indeed to be preferred over subjection to thearbitrary power of an absolute sovereign; Hobbes, on the other hand, is of the view thatmaster-less men do not have the capability to bring justice to a society, and in order tobring greedy, insecure, and self-centered men under control, a strong Leviathan is

necessary. One subtle distinction between Hobbes and Locke is that in the eyes of Hobbes, all menare very similar to each other in thinking, perceiving, and behaving; and the fact thatinsecurity of all men against each other at the same time can spiral out of control, has thepotential to run a society amok. Locke, on the other hand brings to attention humanbeings ability to reason, and to show restraint (by perceiving that others are notnecessarily evil). Locke goes on to the extent of condoning aggression only as adefensive measure (when ones property is encroached upon, for example).

Locke prefers establishment of institutions, and more importantly accountability of thoseinstitutions before civil society as the cornerstone of his theory. Hobbes is little murky inthis regard in the sense that although he also spells out checks in his theory, ensuring

protection of basic liberty of subjects, and goes to the extent of allowing resistance andeven revoking the social contract if sovereign encroaches upon subjects true liberties, yethe fails to clearly state as to who will determine whether subjects true liberties areusurped by the sovereign.

Distinctions Between Hobbes and Nozick Both Hobbes and Nozick are driven by the same fear, that is the fear of attack from

fellow citizens encroaching upon ones property, or fighting over resources in general.Unlike Rawls veil of ignorance where no one is certain about where the resources beingdistributed came from, both Hobbes and Nozick are very clear that resources andproperties come attached to the individuals, and therefore it is impossible for men to not

to run into conflict over the rights of these resources. However, contrary to the politicaland societal setup proposed by Nozick (minimal state), Hobbes goes to the other extremeby ceding (almost all of) the indiv iduals power to the sovereign in order o ensure fair (if not equitable) distribution of resources, and thereby restoring order in the society.

Hobbes is close to Locke in this regard than he is to Nozick in the sense that both Lockeand Hobbes believe in the power of the state (be it an authoritarian state (for Hobbes), ora representative one (Locke)). Nozick, on the other hand, is dismissive of the idea of


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ceding more power to the government than is necessary. He doesnt even want thegovernment to collect taxes from what he considers is the individuals property and thushas nothing to do with the government. Hobbes argues in the favor of governmentcollecting taxes by stating that if Leviathan is responsible for keeping an army (forprotecting the society from internal and external threats), how can he do so without

having the ability to pay for it?

Possible applications/extensions of Hobbes theory from the exam point of view:

1) Nuclear proliferation and arms control regimes can be seen as an example of HobbessLeviathan, though a little different in nature than the one proposed by him. A similarexample is International Court of Justice where individual countries cede their powers toa central authority to act as arbiter and solve their disputes for them.

2) Humanitarian intervention (diplomatic, if not necessarily military) could be anothercandidate for establishment of international legal order on the lines of what Hobbespropose for an individual country. The example can be very compelling in case aSovereign/dictator is not honoring social contract with his own people, and is a threat tointernational legal order, especially in todays globalized world where interests of individual countries are highly integrated with each other, and instability in one part of the world has the potential to affect global economy in more ways than one.

3) In my view, Hobbess model has the potential (although with some tweaking) to beadopted as a means to establish order in todays globalized world where fates of countries(and of their people) are very closely knit with each other. Leaving such highly wiredworld to mere supposition of sovereigns (countries) rationality is very risky, to say theleast. Allisons Rational Actor Model relies very heavily on an individuals rationalthinking, and may lead to catastrophe (at least in terms of international security), therebyaffecting the whole world.

Short summary of the book:

State of nature:

All people are naturally equal and as the weakest is capable of killing the strongest by somemeans, a battle is inevitable when two people have an appetite for the same scarce resource.Hobbes describes this "state of nature" as follows: "During the time men live without a commonpower to keep them all in awe, they are in a condition which is called war; and such a war, is of every man, against every man. In such condition, there is no place for industry, no culture of the earth, no navigation, no commodious buildings, no instruments of moving, no knowledge, noaccount of time, no arts, no letters, no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, anddanger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

The laws of nature:

Hobbes argues that each of us, as a rational being, can see that a war of all against all is inimicalto the satisfaction of her interests, and so can agree that, peace is good, and therefore also the


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way or means of peace are good . Hobbes calls t hese practical imperatives laws of nature, thesum of which is not to treat others in ways we would not have them treat us.

Leviathan or the sovereign:

A multitude of men are made one person when they are by one man, or one person, represented;so that it be done with the consent of every one of that multitude in particular.

When people mutually covenant each to the others to obey a common authority, they haveestabl ished what Hobbes calls sovereignty by institution. When, threatened by a conqueror,they covenant for protection by promising obedience, they have established sovereignty byacquisition . These are equally legitimate ways of establishing sovereignty, according to Hobbes,and their underlying motivation is the same namely fear whether of one's fellows or of aconqueror. The social covenant involves both the renunciation or transfer of right and theauthorization of the sovereign power. Political legitimacy depends not on how a governmentcame to power, but only on whether it can effectively protect those who have consented to obeyit; political obligation ends when protection ceases.

Establishing order in society through punishment and rewards:

- Ignorance of the sovereign or the penalty where law is declared is no excuse.

- All crimes deserve the name of injustice, but there is place for excuse and extenuation as theyare not equally unjust. Crimes against the Commonwealth are greater than private men.

- Punishment is inflicted by public authority upon transgression of law for obedience.

Reversibility of social contract:

While Hobbes insists that we should regard our governments as having absolute authority, hereserves to subjects the liberty of disobeying some of their government's commands. He arguesthat subjects retain a right of self-defense against the sovereign power, giving them the right todisobey or resist when their lives are in danger. He also gives them seemingly broad resistancerights in cases in which their families or even their honor is at stake.

hobbes leviathan - zafar

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