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Chapter Summary Of Thomas Hobbes 'Leviathan'

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n Chapter 13 of Leviathan, Hobbes argues that all men are naturally equal, and that this natural equality leads necessarily to war in the absence of government. He claims that men are all equal in mind and body, not by strength but equal in powers. Hobbes claims that though men are all naturally equal, they are also very unsocial. Therefore, when men are forced to interact in a social environment without a common power such as a government, every man will be enemies in an act of self-preservation. Based on instinct, men naturally fight one another for power. The state of war between two men, automatically assumes that the strongest will destroy the weak. Hobbes on the other hand claims that this isn’t true. He believes that the weak can kill …show more content…

The first two causes for the constant state of war goes hand in hand and it is competition and glory. In competition, men are constantly fighting to attain their common desires while in glory, men fight to earn the status of good reputations. In a scenario, where both men desires the same object, then one man becomes a barrier for the other because now they have to compete for it. According to Hobbes, men are driven by pride so, when two men are competing for a common desire and disables the other man’s ability to pursue his desires, not only do they want to attain their wants but also to gain reputation through pride. Inevitably as humans, we all desire to be happy, and ironically happiness is the ability to attain what you desire… Unfortunately, the human race can never truly be happy because there is no limit to what a man desires, man will always want more. Man will always want what another man has, which set all men in a constant state of conflicts and competition with one another. Today, man may have acquired everything he desires but once he sees that his neighbor has more, he will feel threaten and envious which can lead to conflict, where he wants to attain his neighbor’s belongs. The final cause of war is diffidence, which occurs for security. Since all men are equally powerful, every man has enough power to

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