POL S 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Stupefied, Leviathan
Document Summary
If we are in a situation with no government/sovereign, we will be terrified of one another. In order to survive, we need to compete over goods (necessities, etc. ) When the choice is to fight for the goods or to not have it at all, you end up fighting each other. Without government, we find ourselves in a constant state of war; constant possibility of war (compares it to the possibility of rain: it might rain today and you have to be prepared) Diffidence: mistrust in people: terrified of everyone. Hurt someone for no reason other than fear. We kill each other not simply out of competition but also because we are terrified of what they will or might do. Without government, there is no conception of justice. Without justice, there is no idea of right or wrong. Ppl who would disagree strongly: plato, socrates, aristotle . In the state of nature, we have certain natural rights.
