POLI 240 Study Guide - Thrasymachus, Thomas Hobbes
Document Summary
Overall project is to explain by what reasons a commonwealth may govern men, and then to establish the best possible way for this government to function in order to accommodate the desires of its denizens. Man exists in the external world as a reactive creature that senses objects and is driven to act by the constant motions of the world. These constant motions lead to man"s constant and insatiable desires and wants, which in a state of nature pits everyone against another in a perpetual state of war so live in fear. Part 2 - best form of government is a monarchy, since in any other form of government the sovereign power is not strong enough to protect the subjects from outside invaders and from themselves. A subject"s duty to the sovereign is total, and acting otherwise is only hurting oneself, since the commonwealth is established for the self-preservation of its subjects.
