Hobbes on the Conflict in the State of Nature

Question 1

What is Hobbes’s aim in Leviathan?

Answer 1

He wants to persuade us that it is rational for us to give up our rights to one sovereign.
Except the right to self defence.

Question 2

What does Hobbes think individuals are driven by?

Answer 2

Driven by the pursuit of pleasure and reducing pain - gets rid of objective morality.
We act on our passions - this thinking informs Leviathan.

Question 3

Why does objective morality not work?

Answer 3

As we are driven by our own pursuit of pleasure and reducing pain we have own ideas about what is right or wrong.
We create our own good through the experience of pain and pleasure in life, entitled to decide what is considered good for us.

Question 4

What is Hobbes’s Thesis?

Answer 4

Defends an account of political authority that is nearly absolutist - still retain the right to self-defence.

Question 5

What are the 2 parts to Hobbes’s political theory?

Answer 5

1. his theory of PSYCHOLOGY

2. his theory of the SOCIAL CONTRACT, founded on his ideas of the STATE OF NATURE.

Question 6

What are humans motivated by? (Psychology)

Answer 6

Hobbes emphasises that humans are motivated by a desire for self-preservation, happiness and vainglory.

Question 7

What does Hobbes mean by ‘Grief for the calamity of another’?

Answer 7

Humans are capable of family affection and pity. They are not completely self-centred.

Question 8

What emotions are humans capable of?

Answer 8

Joy, hate, hope, fear, anger, pride, ambition, shame, envy, jealously, lust, hatred, covetousness.

Question 9

What is materialism?

Answer 9

Everything is produced in matter and motion. We respond to stimuli in the world - automatic, act on our passions, humans are self-interested, motivated to better our own situation and satisfy our desires.

Question 10

How do people seek self-preservation?

Answer 10

People fear death and desire self-preservation.
To get this we seek power for security. Humans are self-interested, not cruel. Humans are capable to reason but have other passions to drive them.

Question 11

What is the social contract?

Answer 11

People’s political obligations depend on contract among them - to form society.

Question 12

What is the state of nature?

Answer 12

The condition in which there is ‘no common power to keep them in awe’ (pg. 88) - anarchic conditions without any political authority.
This condition is characterised by interdependence and uncertainty.

Question 13

What is the state of nature like?

Answer 13

Barbaric place. No authority to keep us in check, constant fear of death, no capacity of long-term satisfaction of needs, state without law is a state of war, conflict is possible as there is rough equality.
Chaos is natural.

Question 14

What is rough equality?

Answer 14

Weakest has the strength to kill the strongest - with weapons or friends. This is present in the state of nature.

Question 15

What is natural equality?

Answer 15

Physical and intellectual ability, as people vulnerable to hostility, rise to fear and insecurity.

Question 16

What is the feasibility of conflict?

Answer 16

Conflict is feasible as there is rough equality between individuals including between men and women.
“The weakest has the strength to kill the strongest either by secret machination, or by confederacy with others, that are in the same danger as himself” (pg. 88).

Question 17

What is the permissibility of conflict?

Answer 17

Conflict is rationally and morally permissible because there is a right of nature. This allows each individual to:
“use his own power… for the preservation of… his own life, and consequently of doing anything which in his own judgement and reason he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto” (pg. 91).
Natural right to preserve ourselves - defend our own lives.

Question 18

What is life like for man in the state of nature?

Answer 18

It would involve a war of all against all - life of man is “solitary, poor, brutish and short” (pg. 89).

Question 19

Why is the state of nature a state of war?

Answer 19

State of war “consists not of actual war; but in known disposition thereto” (pg. 88).
Conflict is likely - not just any war, it’s war of everyone against everyone - people at risk of sudden death constantly.
Readiness and willingness to engage in fight at all times, fight is common knowledge - all in fear.

Question 20

What are the 3 causes of quarrel?

Answer 20

Violence in the state of nature is likely for 3 reasons:

1. Competition produces violence for gain.
2. Diffidence produces violence of safety.
3. Vainglory produces violence for pleasure.

Question 21

Why is there competition in the state of nature?

Answer 21

Natural equality between individuals - equal hope of attaining their ends.
Scarcity of resources - if two individuals have the same end goal - desire for the same thing but can’t be enjoyed by both = competition.
Equal in power - things we can’t all have - for Hobbes is war.

Question 22

Why is there diffidence in the state of nature?

Answer 22

Diffidence produces violence for safety - rational response to insecurity is to engage in anticipatory strikes, rather than lie low.
Competition = uncertainty - can’t be sure about individuals aims and intentions - diffidence.

Question 23

How does lack of trust lead to diffidence?

Answer 23

As humans are concerned with self-preservation - we consider the worst case scenario - rational action is to engage in anticipatory attacks.
No trust - can’t engage in agreements and contracts, fear of harm.

Question 24

What does Kafka say about diffidence?

Answer 24

Violence for safety - problematic - anticipatory attacks, spiral of violence. Self-fulfilling prophecy, even good people because of the fear.

Question 25

Why is there vainglory in the state of nature?

Answer 25

Some humans take “pleasure in contemplating their own power in the acts of conquest, which they pursue farther than their security requires” (pg. 88).
Violence gives the attacker as sense of pride - reputation.
Knowing some people choose to attack for pleasure – creates a feeling of insecurity, no punishment on sofn – everyone on edge - mutual suspicion.

Question 26

What is game theory?

Answer 26

Game theory addresses issues of strategic rationality - how individuals do, or should, act in situations of interdependence and uncertainty about others’ conduct, where the welfare of each depends on the decisions of others.

Question 27

How does the Prisoner’s Dilemma work with Hobbes’s thinking?

Answer 27

Attacking is a dominant strategy, meaning that it is better to attack than the alternative option of letting yourself be attacked.
If this reasoning persuades you, then it will also persuade the other individual. The upshot is that you arrive at an outcome that is worse for both of you.
Driven by fear and uncertainty – desire for self-preservation.

Question 28

What is the Anarchists objection to the Prisoner’s Dilemma?

Answer 28

Punishment ensures that the other players keep to the rules. Watch behaviour of others- see how they responds, make judgements, punishes people as groups.

Question 29

Why is Hobbes sceptical of the Anarchist’s view of the Prisoner’s Dilemma?

Answer 29

Individuals will lack assurance of others’ willingness to cooperate in the State of Nature - no political power to ensure this.
This is due to the presence or even mere possibility of glory-seekers who seek Violence for Pleasure, as well as because individuals have limited rationality (pp. 119-120). – can’t guarantee trust, don’t know if you will abuse, people profit from acting violently, less likely with political structures as they know there are consequences

Question 30

What is Hobbes’s solution to the state of nature?

Answer 30

Individuals should submit to a state with (near) absolute political authority – that is, a state that offers them protection in return for their obedience.