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 Thomas Hobbes: Political Necessity and Philosophic Virtue
Natural Law, Natural Equality, and History
Ian McMurtrie July 2009
 
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Introduction
 There exists in contemporary societies a historically unique surplus of means. Even theleast advantaged communities, let alone the greatest of powers, have at their disposal acertain share of humanity’s unprecedented wealth and technological capacity.
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Theproliferation of sophisticated industry, novel engineering, radically newcommunications and the required caste of persons holding advanced training in everrefined specialties to oversee these capacities is readily apparent. To what ends theseabundant means are employed, however, remains the subject of much contention.Determining acceptable ends requires capacities that are not inherent in the availablemeans
 per se
. That is, the capacity and willingness to guide the abilities derived from theexpertise acquired is not correspondingly found in those same specializations. Thismultiplicity of awe-inspiring means and the associated specializations exist alongside anoticeably declining political and intellectual culture in many countries. Thus a problemexists that confronts states as equally as the persons who compose and manage them;that is the challenge in harmonizing the staggering potential of the available means withthe possible beneficial ends while suffering a dwindling collective capacity to function beyond amoral technical manipulation. Discerning the most appropriate, the mostfeasible, and the most beneficial ends cannot be drawn from the means alone (a
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To provide an example from personal experience, I was recently reading Cornelius Ryan’s
The Longest Day
 ,an outstanding account of the Normandy invasions of June 1944. On the eve of the attack DwightEisenhower, one of the most powerful men in earth’s history, with the combined assets of the Allied Forcescould not predict with even a modicum of confidence the weather over the forthcoming 48 hours and visualintelligence of the targets on the European mainland was sparse at best. Within seconds, using the samemachine on which I compose this essay, I was able to posses detailed weather reports for the EnglishChannel including forecasts with a high degree of confidence along with near-real time satellite imagery ofthe French coast. To be able to best Eisenhower from my apartment in Toronto with almost negligible effortshould speak volumes.
 
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technology, for example, cannot dictate how it ought to be used). An understanding ofthe proper ends can come about solely through wisdom employed in judging. Theseintellectual capacities – virtues, in other words – are in need of recognition,understanding, and cultivation if the vast capabilities at humanity’s disposal are to beemployed without running afoul of the twin errors, as Hobbes reminds us in thededication to
Leviathan
 , of “too great liberty, and on the other side for too muchauthority, [and] ‘tis hard to pass between the points both unwounded.”
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It is far easier to bend to the will of authority, absolve oneself of responsibility and submit to unreflectivedoctrine as much as it is to become ensnared by unchecked licentiousness which inviteschaos and recklessness. The wellbeing of our political communities thus demands thatthe specific intellectual virtues of wisdom and judgment be refined to ensure that anyfruits achieved in political (or economic) life do not fall prey to the twin errors of blindauthority or heedless liberty.To cultivate a response to this problem that is both politically aware andphilosophically sound we can look to Thomas Hobbes’ political science. For Hobbes’thought takes account of the relation between means and ends, wisdom and judgment,and how these can be made politically effective. In so doing, Hobbes’ concept of naturallaw, his understanding of the equality of persons, and how he will reconcile thereciprocal interplay between history and philosophy will be examined.
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Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan Richard Tuck, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), Dedicationp. 3. All quotations taken from
Leviathan
available from eBooks@Adelaide(http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hobbes/thomas/h68l/) to accommodate modern spelling and punctuation.However all page references will be to the Tuck edition as the text is otherwise identical.
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