Hobbes’s conception of the state of nature. Is he right that human nature, combined with the finiteness of the world’s resources, will necessarily lead to a state of war? Is he right that the state of war described would really be the worst situation imaginable?

I think its true that people could act in a state of war against one another when there are not enough of the same resources of the world to go around.  If this is something that could actually happen when governments collapse like Hobbes says, it could very well be a bad situation.  No laws, no government, would lead to a chaotic threatened, society with armed and distrustful neighbors, and people living desperately to survive. It could definitely be the worst situation imaginable.

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1 Comment »

  1. Becca W. Said:

    I think eventually it could lead to a state of turmoil, but I also don’t think that it is necessarily the case that if we abolished government, then we would suddenly start beating eachother up. I think that for a while, people would adhere to the laws they were accustomed to, and that it would be a gradual decline into chaos as opposed to a sudden 180 into complete dysfunction.


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