Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher, mathematician, and linguist. Hobbes was born of an impoverished clerical family in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. At school he quickly excelled, making a reputation as a linguist and fluent poet and translator. After Oxford he entered the employment of William Cavendish, and except for a short interval remained secretary, tutor, and general advisor to the family for the rest of his career. His employment included several "Grand Tours" during which he met the leading European intellectuals of his time. As a spokesman for the royalist Devonshires, Hobbes was caught up in the turmoil preceding the Civil War, and fled to France in 1640, remaining there until 1651. Because of his writings, especially Leviathan, Hobbes lived in serious danger of prosecution after the restoration of Charles II. Hobbes's principal interests in his later years were translations, and he lived out his old age at the Devonshire's home. Throughout all his works Hobbes is completely consistent on the point that the laws of nature are the principles of reason and, they are concerned with self-preservation. But the principles of reason that Hobbes discusses as the laws of nature are not concerned with the preservation o
In the state of nature reason dictates to everyone that they seek peace when they can do so safely, which stops the laws of nature; but when they believe themselves to be in danger, even in the distant future, reason allows them to use any means they see fit to best achieve lasting preservation, which yields the right of nature. But if each person holds the right of nature, the result would be what Hobbes calls the state of nature, in which the life of man is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". This account of reason as seeking self-preservation provides a justification of both the personal and the moral obligations. f particular persons but, as Hobbes puts it, with 'the conservation of men in multitudes'. That is why Hobbes regards self-defence as an inalienable right - nothing counts as giving it up. Although Hobbes is called a social contract theorist, he regards the foundation of the state not to be a mutual contract or covenant, but what he calls a free gift. The personal virtues are directly consistent with self-preservation, and the moral obligations are determinants to peace and a stable society, which are essential for lasting preservation. " Hobbes regards injustice as the only kind of immorality that can be punished and this is why it is important for him to show that the state cannot commit injustice. They believed that only by giving up their right of nature to the state could they save their lives. By allowing the exception of self-defence, Hobbes has a strong case for saying that reason always supports obeying the civil law. What is moral and immoral is determined by what leads to lasting peace, which is the preservation of one's life. In conclusion Hobbes argues that the state can never be unjust and that there cannot be unjust laws. It would be unnatural for one not to respond to an immediate threat, if one seems to give up the right to respond to such threats, that indicates that either one does not mean what one seems to mean, or one is irrational and one cannot give up any right. Hobbes argues that giving up one's right to decide what is best for one's long-term preservation, and letting that be decided by a designated person or group of persons called a sovereign, is actually the best way to guarantee one's long-term preservation, provided that other people have also given up their right of nature to the sovereign. No matter how the state is formed, the subject does not contract with the sovereign, but rather gives him a free gift of obedience in the hope of living in greater security.
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