PHIL 1010 Lecture 2: LEC 2 PHIL1010
13 Feb 2019
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Document Summary
The state of nature is a thought experiment. Devices of the imagination used to investigate the nature of things (sep) It does not matter if the state of nature has ever existed. The state of nature is a device used to shape our reasoning. How you envision the state of nature will have drastic consequences for how you perceive the role of the state, the function of government, etc. Prior to hobbes, the assumption was that society was natural to humans. We are political animals in the words of aristotle. Lived through 30 years of great britain war. Hobbes asks what is natural about the state? what is its purpose? . Believed human nature was not about engaging in civil society to be better. What humans are really like, is constant fighting, we are generally not good people. We need to be constrained by nature.
