THOMAS HOBBES

            
             "And the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". Hobbes" famous words in the Leviathan about the condition of mankind in the state of nature reverberate down the centuries, communicating as they do a keen sense of the fragility of the social bond that separates us from that desperate condition. When the breakdown in central authority in England left individuals uncertain as to where political legitimacy lay, Hobbes" political narrative provided us with prescriptions to revolve the "disorders of the present times". Absolute sovereignty, preferably in the person of a monarch, who could not be divided against himself, and absolute obedience on the part of the state's subjects. The sovereign's remit even extended over the practice of religion, with obedience to his will being demanded in this area no less than in the political. At that instance the state of nature really did dictate the nature of the state, with absolutism being presented as a remedy to the all-too-human tendency to regress to a pre-social condition of the "warre of every man against every man". The Hobbesian nation state is designed to deal with the perceived inherently flawed mankind, rather than from proceeding from any idealistic motive.
             Hobbes puts forward a theory of human nature, which has implications for our entire social system: The Hobbesian individual has a natural disposition towards anti-social behavior that must be checked for the public good. Hobbes" model of human nature precludes him from seeing anything worth preserving from the pre-social state. Without curbs on his behavior, the individual in the state of nature, no matter what his powers, is condemned to a life that is "solitary, poor, brutish, and short". The commonwealth is pictured as dominated by their appetites, a state of affairs that inevitably leads to conflict over resources with the rest of their neighbors. Although more powerful individuals might make short-term gains, no one is ever powerful enough to protect him or herself, and in resources they have gained in conflict with others, indefinitely.