Question

according to Thomas Hobbes' Ethical Egoism, if we were to imagine ourselves living in a State of Nature, without government, then common standards of good, evil, and justice would be precarious, and always subject to defection by individuals who gave in to the passions for gain, pride, or revenge. As such, the common standard for good and evil would appear to be a social matter that could be secured only by an organized society that is complex enough to have a government formed by a Social Contract. Hobbes' views have enjoyed a long and lasting influence on the fields of philosophy, sociology, political science, and beyond (and are still commonly encountered within the theories of classically trained economists and political scientists today), but my question for you is simply, do you agree with Hobbes about all of this? In particular, do you find his metaphysical description of human beings living in the State of Nature ultimately convincing? Or might his characterization of human beings, as little more than selfish and competitive individuals concerned primarily with their own self-interest, tend in some way to distort a proper understanding of ourselves or fail to fully capture the actual experience of what it's really like to be a human being? If the latter should turn out to be true, then one implication of this would seem to be that, Hobbes' long revered and well respected portrayal of human beings as existing in a State of Nature (or as always just one step away from spiraling back into one, were it not for the saving graces of the Social Contract currently in place), is perhaps nothing more than a deeply-seated myth, passed down through the tradition, that perpetuates the apparent necessity and need for a Social Contract. If all this were true, then what explanation might you give for why such a myth has been able to take hold and persist for so long? And just whose interests might such a myth tacitly be serving in the end?

Answer 1

Yes, I agree with Thomas Hobbes, according to him if we live in the State of Nature, without government than good, evil, and justice would be precarious and that is true. We humans need someone to rule over us, just imagine the world without any laws. The population of the world would have come to half. People would go beyond their limits to take revenge, and murder people. That is why laws are made in the world and the crimes are called as unethical and people in fear commit less crime.

Though there are people who live in their own world which have no rules and regulations and commit a crime, and they get caught and they are punished.

When we talk about the time of stone age there was no rules and regulations, but on the other hand population was very low and they didn’t have proper thinking power and they could not distinguish between good and bad, as we progressed law and government was formed to keep the lives of people on a track.

Talking more about Thomas Hobbes believed that the only true and correct form of government is an absolute monarchy, which in my opinion is wrong. People don’t like to be ruled now, they all are independent and people deserve their freedom. See how monarchy is coming to an end in the world and even dictators in the world are completely vanishing. People will obey those who will give them equal rights and status in society and it is a government which is for the people and by the people.