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THE LEVIATHAN

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Introduction
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The Leviathan, a title to the most popular work of Hobbes in the seventeenth century,

was inspired by fear of what he witnessed during the civil wars. It focuses on the state of nature

and particularly human nature as a defining element of political outlook. Thomas Hobbes

describes the state of nature, which is the condition of how the world would be if there were no

governments at all and everyone had all the power to do what they please. He presents that life is

entirely a race and that by nature, human is self-preserving and competitive and always fighting

to take advantage of others to achieve maximum benefits. The work also addresses the

sovereignty of a common entity bestowed with the power to govern people as the solution to

provide peace, order and security, which are essentials of coexistence. Therefore, this paper

offers an interpretation of the parts of Hobbes` work detailing the reasons why concepts are

presented as they are, the commonwealth, and the purpose of common power to in the political

availing peace and security.

The First Passage

In the first passage, Hobbes focuses on the state of nature, which explains how the world

would be like if there were no governments to provide principles that give a sense of direction to

humankind as well as lay down the laws that dictate what is right and what is wrong and at the

same time describe what is lawful and what is not. To better give a clear picture of the state of

nature, he delves into the nature of humankind to provide an exploration of how human beings

are naturally. He begins by presenting the concept of motion. That human beings are constantly

in motion. This is explained by the analogy of the sense which is formed through external

exposure. It is achieved when an external cause triggers specific organs of the human body.

Whatever is formed remains in the internal organs even when one is asleep or resting; hence the

inner parts of the human body always stay in motion. From the sense, the images formed in the
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internal organs of the human body are termed imagination which describes human's perceptions.

Imaginations that are fading senses become a memory, and memory becomes an experience.

Therefore, the more humans are exposed to, the more the memory and consequently the more the

experience; hence a natural classification occurs that places some individuals top over others in

terms of the experience amassed over time, explaining the naturally competitive nature of human

beings.

The other concept presented in the first passages is the equality of the body and the mind.

Hobbes presents those human beings are equal in the faculty of the body. Despite some people

appearing to be physically stronger than others, depending on the approaches used, the weak can

end the life of the strong. From that argument, human beings are therefore presented as equals in

the sense that despite what could be perceived as most obvious, the strong ones having the ability

to end the life of the weak, the weak can equally be the ones terminating the strong, based on the

techniques used. That analogy, therefore, brings to light that even the strongest are not immune

to death, which could come from the weak or strong opponents, thus making both the weak and

the strong equal. On the faculty of the mind, Hobbes used the argument of prudence and

attributed prudence to experience, which is again a factor of time. Therefore, in as much as some

people could be termed as more knowledgeable than others, their prudence depends on the

experience amassed over time. When exposed to similar time frames and experiences, even the

less prudent would emerge as equally prudent, making them equal. The other argument that

cements the equality of humankind is the equality of ability. According to Hobbes, equality of

ability leads to equality in hopes of obtaining similar goals. Therefore, humanity believes they all

can achieve whatever they want. When the objectives are similar, hatred arises, leading to

constant fights, as competition occurs to secure the end.

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The other major thing that Hobbes focuses on in the first passages is the passions of

humankind. These refer to the desires that human beings possess, which give them the drive to

remain in motion in life. One such passion is the power that never seizes. Humankind believes

that power comes with security. Therefore, to secure their power and sense of security, they

constantly fight for more, which is again associated with wealth. Due to the obsession for power,

they can easily kill others who appear to be their opponent to displace them. The other thing that

human beings crave is to be honoured. Which again is a product of one having power.

Therefore, these different obsessive desires place human beings into constant competition;

consequently, they develop different manners out of desires for self-gain and self-perseveration.

One, therefore, rejoices when the other is suffering, one's failure becomes the other person's

victory, one becomes glorious when others lag and being defeated is shameful. This implies that

natural human beings are self-centred and all are after advantage and honour even at the expense

of others.

The first passages also term life as a race. This implies that life comprises competitors.

Like in a typical race, each competitor aims for the prize at the end of the race. Everyone,

therefore, remains constantly on the lookout for their self-gain, and no quitting is allowed as that

would be considered defeat and getting tired of the race is considered giving up; hence human

beings don't give room for that. As a result, there are constant fights from the competition in the

state of nature as people get into the war to gather power. The other cause of wars in the state of

nature is diffidence, the fear of losing power, and as a result, people constantly fight to defend

what they have. Additionally, the war in the state of nature is caused by the pursuit of honour. It

entails subjecting others into jeopardy and inflicting pain and suffering in them to cultivate fear

in them.
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Natural laws, together with other laws of nature, also form part of the first passages. In

the state of nature rights that human beings naturally have is liberty. This is the power to do

whatever they please. What is good or evil is dependent on their reasoning and not confiding

rules. The most fundamental law of nature is seeking peace and pursuing it to the fullest, which

implies that humans ought to hope for peace and seek it when they cannot find it. The second

law of nature is inspired by the law of gospel which dictates that one ought to do to others what

they expect done to them in return. The other rule of nature is that human beings ought to

perform the covenants they make, which are the promises they make using their words of mouth.

Keeping their word is regarded as justice, whereas failure to keep their word is injustice.

The Second Passage

In the second passage, Hobbes describes commonwealth as the solution to the state of

nature, a condition in which no common entity is trusted and well equipped to make decisions on

behalf of the people while governing them. Commonwealth is described as a single person or a

unit entity comprised of several members conferred with sovereign powers to govern other

people. They also form rules that define what is good and what is evil, what is lawful and

unlawful to ensure all the subjects have a common point of reference regarding the moral of

conduct. The common entity is expected to restore equality and govern the people with

impartiality, of which the opposite is seen as an injustice. The sovereign power of the

commonwealth is obtained in two ways, one by natural force where some people are forced into

power and the other by the institution where people willingly show confidence to an individual

or a group of individuals. They trust them to protect them, promote peace and govern them with

impartiality.
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The second passage also gives a highlight of the principles that govern the sovereignty of

the commonwealth. One such principle is that the multitude, by conferring power to the

individual or a group of individuals, automatically become their subjects; they, therefore, ought

to obey their directives, failure to which they invite punishment upon themselves. The other

principle regards the covenant that the person in power makes with the public. It ought to be

made to the whole multitude as a unit and not to each individual as a person. Failure to keep the

covenant makes it void and is hence breached. The other principle is in regard to the laws that

ought to be followed under the rulership of the commonwealth. Such rules which become the law

of the should be created by the person or group of persons in power, and they should be availed

publicly for people to know what they should regard as the common good or common evil.

Reasons to Exit the State of Nature

Some of the reasons Hobbes thinks that we should exit the state of nature and form a

commonwealth include that human beings are generally competitive. Life is like a competition to

humankind, and therefore everyone constantly strives to be at an advantage since they all believe

to be more prudent and more able than others. The fact that all humans have a common end goal

to achieve the best that life can offer compels one to use all the means possible to beat their

competitors and achieve what they want. Some might even go to the extent of killing others for

self-gain. The competition is generally brought by the passion and the aggressive nature of

humans that drive them to achieve power, which is believed to provide a sense of security. They

all crave more power in order to secure what they already have and obtain honour. As a result,

those who succeed rejoice at the fall of others.

The other reason that necessitates commonwealth is that, unlike animals, for instance,

bees, human beings are not social. Even when organized as a group with no law that guides the
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leadership and within which everyone confines, it would nearly be impossible to have peace. At

each particular moment, humans have different perspectives on every subject. Everyone thinks

they are correct, and their view is what should be followed. Additionally, everyone feels that

they are better leaders than others; hence in such a setting, it would be impossible to have their

voice heard, still, in the state of nature where there is extreme liberty. That grants everyone the

power to do as they please, and what is good or evil is subjective and relative. Everyone

constantly remains at war with the other as whereas one sees killing the other person as an evil

deed, the other could see it as a necessity. Therefore, in a state of nature, the fundamental law of

nature, which is endeavouring to have peace, remains broken since all humans remain

continuously at war for honour and to be at an advantage at all times.

How to Create Commonwealth

To create a commonwealth, it would require the establishment of an administrative

system in which an individual or a group of individuals who best represent the interests of the

public are conferred with the powers to lead them following a laid down set of rules, common to

everyone and that both the leadership and the subjects are mandated to follow them. Such could

be through calling out interested candidates to contend for a leadership position and sell their

manifesto to people, which marks parts of their covenant with the public. The best candidate is

voted in as the leader, which symbolizes the public's consent to their sovereignty. Both the

majority of the people who supported the candidate and the small number who voted against the

candidate become subjects to the elected leadership. They are expected to follow directives of

the ruler upon whom sovereign powers are conferred, failure to which they would be punished.

The leaders are also expected to abide by the law and keep their word to the public. That would

ensure that the commonwealth is created and that peace and order are maintained.
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Conclusion

As seen, the Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes, provides information on social construct

explaining how it would be if there were no governments to lead the people, which is the state of

nature. The state of nature is characterized by constant war, which is attributed to the nature of

humankind. Hobbes submits that human beings are generally competitive, aggressive, passionate

and all believe to be equally endowed to lead. As a result, without a common law that dictates

what is good and what is evil, everyone is guided by their reasoning, and that eliminates the

concept of peacemaking human life uncertain in all aspects. Hobbes, therefore, proposes the

creation of commonwealth as a solution to having a peaceful coexistence where people are

restricted to a common-law hence ascribe to common values.