PHIL 1010 Chapter 1: Hobbes' State of Nature

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1010
• Professor: Kyle Bromhall

Document Summary

Nothing could be worse than life without the state and therefore a strong government is essential to ensure that we do not lapse into a war of all against all. In the absence of government, human nature would bring us into severe conflict. Hobbes used the principle of the conservation of motion in developing a materialist, mechanist view of human beings; human beings are animated through motion. Hobbes paints a picture of humans always searching for something, and never being at rest; humans can never be without desire. Human beings seek felicity (continual success in seeking objects of desire); it is the search to secure felicity that will bring us to war in the state of nature. Hobbes" definition of power is one"s present means to obtain some future apparent good , and to secure felicity, one must become powerful through riches or reputation.