|
|
The State of Nature according to Thomas Hobbes is the condition in which humans exist before the establishment of social organization. In the State of Nature, people are basically equal both physically and intellectually. It is possible for stronger people to be killed by weaker people, and all intelligence is native and uncultivated. This equality brings about the natural conditions of humans..... WAR. In the State of Nature there is no justice or injustice. According to Hobbes, neither can exist in isolation because justice is not a personal quality. To have justice and injustice, social organization must be present. This absence of justice allows everyone to have the right to everything. A conflict now arises because everyone can not have everything. Not all people can posses the same object of desire. These feuding individuals become enemies, and will seek to destroy one another. Life in the State Of Nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." It is a constant all against all battle that can be abolished only by voluntarily transferring rights in a "social contract," and taking on social obligations to one another. At a point, men got tired of living their "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" lives. They decided to enter into an agreement among themselves to surrender their individual sovereignty and accept the absolute power of One Man who was to use all resources of other men and society, to provide a secure and orderly life for everyone.
|
