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Moral Limits and Individual Conduct

 

            Chapter 13 of Thomas Hobbes "Leviathan"" begins with Hobbes comparing man's characteristics. He says that humans are characteristically different, in that one can be stronger or have a quicker mind, but when it comes down to it, a man can over power or outwit any man. He goes on to say that everyman is proud and conceited in their abilities to be better then another man that they believe they can over power or out wit a person if they are threatened. And if two men desire the same want and one man feels susceptible to not being able attain his wants, he recognizes that the other man is his enemy and will seek to subdue and/or destroy the other. Hobbes continues saying that if one man is the victor, and he fears no single man, the loser will unite like-minded forces in order to dethrone the conqueror. This creates a social unrest for every man for fear of losing what he has. Thus, man will continue to fight until he no longer feels threatened by any man or group of men. And if a man is smart and strategic enough to reach the point where they fear no one, they will not feel pleasure; instead they will feel grief and anxiety. Hobbes states that there are three principles of quarrels: a. competition, b. diffidence, and c. glory. Competition, so that they make themselves feel like master's of objects. Diffidence, to defend the objects obtained. And glory, for the victor's ego. This is what Hobbes calls war. During war there is no place for industry, no culture of the Earth, no arts, no knowledge of the Earth, no love, no account of time, no society, and continual fear, and danger of death. And until society agrees on laws and the people that make them, they will continue to be in war with one another. Hobbes compares this hypothetical war of men to the exploration of the Americas in the 1600s, where there was no government or unity in the land and where the person with the biggest stick terrorized the inhabitants.


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