In
chapter 17 of Leviathan Hobbes presents his fundamental basis for how
commonwealth emerged and why it carries utmost importance. Up until this
chapter, Hobbes establishes that the state of nature is similar to a ruthless
and anarchic battlefield where there is continual and constant anxiety that a
war might emerge. Hobbes argues that such a state of war deprives men of art,
commodity, and sense of society and hence should be avoided. According to
Hobbes, peace is the ultimate tool for prosperity but to obtain it he asserts
that a common and greater power is mandatory. In chapter 17 Hobbes by comparing
people with primitive animals, unveils men’s various qualities or deficiencies
that give birth to the need for a greater power to govern them namely commonwealth.
In this essay, I will argue that the comparison in Chapter 17 establishes that
the sophisticated mind of men presents itself as both beneficial and
destructive in the sense that it causes conflicts and constant war among people
but it also establishes civilizations where people live in peace and
prosperity.
In
chapter 17 Hobbes explains people’s disposition to question commonwealth
particularly when there is peace by pointing out their ability to understand
the concept of “injury” and “damage”. He draws this disposition as one of the
reasons for conflict and proposes that irrational animals do not have that
inclination because they don’t understand the notions of injury and damage.
While this essentially portrays men’s sophisticated minds as a curse that
drives them to cause conflicts, Hobbes’ concept of value suggests that people’s
narrow-minded nature causes conflicts. Hobbes argues that people assess
someone’s value by considering mostly the benefits that person gives to them,
he says that “The value, or WORTH of a man, is as of all other things, his
Worth. price; that is to say, so much as would be given for the use of his
power: and therefore, is not absolute; but a thing dependent on the need and
judgment of another” (Hobbes 59). He then gives an example that illuminates his
reasoning lying beneath the concept of value, “An able conductor of soldiers,
is of great price in time of war present, or imminent; but in peace not so” (Hobbes
59). A competent *conductor of soldiers* may not present his significance in
the state of peace, but he is still important because he provides an order
among the soldiers, and without that order, society would be vulnerable against
potential enemies. Therefore, the commander is still beneficial to people but
the benefit is not visible in the superficial layer. Thereby, Hobbes’ example
regarding a “conductor of soldier” introduces the idea that people may not
understand the importance of something if it isn’t clearly visible to them
indicating their lack of ability to analyze and use their reason prudently.
This is important as it presents men’s lack of ability to reason as a cause of
possible conflict with which contradicts what Hobbes argues in chapter 17 by
comparing irrational animals with people. Some people may not give value to
those who govern the commonwealth because they don’t see a visible benefit
coming from them. They may view trumpeting their wisdom and trying to “control
the actions of them that govern the commonwealth” (Hobbes 113,) as more
rewarding than obeying and honoring the covenant they signed when they entered
society. Such obedience can cause civil wars and conflicts. It is thereof,
ambiguous whether people disobey the commonwealth in the state of peace because
they don’t view it as important in the times when they don’t need it to protect
them or because they understand what injustice and damage are. Although one
side of the argument relies on people’s deficiency in thinking and the other
takes people’s superior intellect as its fundamental pillar, Hobbes would say
that both could happen even simultaneously.
. The comparison between people and irrational animals
reveals that people’s sophisticated minds oblige them to have a strong and
controlling power that would establish peace and enforce covenants. Irrational
animals do not need an external force that would enforce agreements since their
order is structured by nature and because of that, they have fewer wars and
conflicts. Through this difference, it becomes evident that irrational animals
have a more peaceful society subtly alluding to the idea that they are superior
to people in this particular aspect. Considering this subtle superiority, it
can be proclaimed that people’s sophisticated thinking cursed people to have
constant conflicts arising out of the concepts of competition, value, honor,
and hatred. Nevertheless, it is also people’s intellect that saved them from
self-destruction by forming a civilization that is protected by covenants. In
other words, chapter 17 portrays the intellect of people as both a curse and a
blessing which further reinforces the idea that intellect or lack of it can
present itself as a destructive tool depending on the context.
In
conclusion, Hobbes establishes the basis for men and why men are inclined to
cause conflict. The inherently intelligent nature of men causes the reasons for
wars but it also the intelligence that saves humankind from self-destruction.
Chapter 17 reveals what deficiencies and corrupting qualities men have that
beget the reason for a commonwealth to govern us. Ultimately, chapter 17 by
contemplating on the qualities of men that cause problems implicitly unveil
that people can compromise their self-destructive nature by giving out their
powers to someone to govern them.
Works
Cited
Hobbes,
Thomas, and J. C. A Gaskin. Leviathan. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1998
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