POL113H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Leviathan, Totalitarianism
10 Dec 2016
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Hobbes talks about what humans imagine to be true, and how easily we are manipulated. Punish witches because they pretend to be witches, and they"re stirring up superstition, and punish people who punish witches. What would we be like if we were absolutely free, and as equal as we can be. If you want peace, you must create the most powerful government to enforce that peace. Peace is not a human byproduct, it is brought by a force that keeps humans in order. Hobbs says that the road to peace is through a totalitarian government, to not act on our freedom, to make us respect others. This is based on every individual coming to the conclusion to not be free, to not act upon their own individual judgement. Although, we do need an enforcer of this decision, and the rule breakers must be punished. The very first law of nature written into humans is self-preservation.
