Analysis Of Hobbes View Of Human Nature

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Taking in consideration the merely intuitive notion of pessimism, that is the tendency to see the worst aspect of things, this essay will argue that Hobbes’ view of human nature is not pessimistic. Firstly, this argument will be supported by the explanation of Hobbes’ theory on the state of nature becoming a state of war, and the steps he takes to arrive at this conclusion. Thus, his stance on human nature will be revealed. Then, a critical assessment of his standpoint will be considered to evaluate the argument and ultimately demonstrate that Hobbes does not depict mankind pessimistically.

This first paragraph will outline Hobbes’ concept of the state of nature, a necessary starting point to understand the philosopher’s view. In fact, his account of human nature is revealed thanks to the reasons he provides for believing that the state of nature is a state of war. Hobbes describes the state of nature as a place without any form of civil …show more content…

According to him, “the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest” (Hobbes, 1991: 87). In other words, Hobbes introduces the concept of natural equality, which entails that each man is a mortal threat to others because one is strong enough to kill another. Moreover, he also believes that people are naturally free because they have a right to do anything, since in the state of nature there are no laws to constrain humankind. Additionally, this links with Hobbes’ assumption of “equality of hope in the attaining of our ends” (Hobbes, 1991: 87) and with the three key interests that people share in the state of nature, namely, the desire for self-preservation, for acquiring means of commodious life, and for improving one’s own position in life through industry. To explain, since humans are naturally free and equal, they tend to equally hope to fulfil these same crucial

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