Introduction
Thomas Hobbes is a philosopher who believes he has accomplished his purpose of ensuring that human kind live in peace. He has made a lot of contributions on modern philosophical thought on politics. His writings are aimed at giving ideas to individuals and especially those that are in political positions. This will enable them solve some of the problems in the society. Hobbes ideas are basically a reflection of the life that he has gone through and the influences that have been around him. Hobbes did not actually grow under the care of his biological parents; they abandoned him at a very tender age but he was lucky enough to have a wealthy uncle who ensured that he obtained the best education. He took a keen interest in studies and became mostly interested in sciences. He found more reality with the experiments that proved the existence of nature and hence developed his philosophical thoughts through them. Due to the influences of his uncle, he had a lot of acquaintances in the government that put him in a position of power and status. He used such opportunities through his writing to advocate to what he thought was right. In his contributions to civic peace, Hobbes avoided being a one sided individual and advocated for practical ways of dealing with leadership. He emphasized on the importance of every mankind understanding their roles in society and working towards their fulfillment rather than fighting for a single position. He cautioned leaders in his time against seeking self ambitions as they can barely achieve anything without the help of others.
Hobbes’ views
The foundation of Hobbes thoughts comes from his belief that every human being is either self-centered, irrational and self-seeking. According to him, these are the natural aspects of human beings that need to be dealt with in order to achieve national cohesion (Matthews, p. 153). Contrary to the general belief that it is only those that are in political positions that have authority over the citizens, Hobbes believes that every mature citizen has authority and power of their own. It is only a mother that has absolute authority over their baby considering their delicate and wanting nature. He hence believes that every human being irrespective of their political standing and status in society has the ability to harm the other. It, therefore, requires the concerted effort of both individuals to ensure that everything is working out well. For instance, there is no leader that can claim to have the ability to protect a country unless they are assisted by other supreme authorities like the police. Even as different people come together for the sake of protecting a state, they all do it with centeredness that is inclined to the self. This basically means that they are only diligent in performing their responsibilities because of a promised benefit.
Hobbes insists on the necessity of employing scientific environmental factors in governance so as to strike a balance between the needs of the society and the individual needs of all people. The self-nature in an individual will always seek for its own satisfaction which may not necessarily be of benefit to society. However, when environmental factors are considered, it will be possible to fulfill the needs of the moment. In his approach to the self, Hobbes is cautioning leaders against believing in their ‘self’ abilities. There is a high possibility that they will not be able to serve the citizens appropriately if they focus on their ambitions. His thoughts gained much popularity during the civil wars in England. He emphasized the need for citizens, irrespective of their spiritual standing to develop confidence in the leadership which ought to be more practical in its approach to situations. Hobbes wrote materials that signified that religion and politics cannot be intermixed. This caused a lot of discomfort among religious gurus who insisted on the importance of politicians being connected to spiritual authority. It was basically a time when it was believed that a leader cannot be effective unless they are attached to a spiritual deity.
His teachings were making a lot of sense especially to the leaders who felt they needed something unique that they can practice. The level of his influence was a threat to Christian believers who were now looking at him as an atheist. Even though his teachings were gaining much ground, he had to destroy some of them as they became a threat to his life. He also had to migrate to ensure that he was safe from the allegations that had risen against him (Morgan, p. 89). Some leaders mistook him for claiming that they were selfish and cared less about the needs of other people. However, what he was trying to bring across was basically the importance of people realizing how important they were to each other and hence endeavoring to work together. There is basically no individual that can independently achieve a lot; they all have influences of the self that may not work for the good of all citizens. However when such characters are combined and appropriately analyzed, then the needs of the majority will be taken care of. The moment leaders realize how weak and powerless they are on their own despite their positions, the more they will learn to appreciate the ‘insignificant’ people that are serving them.
It has been rather difficult for people to understand the message that is being brought forth by Hobbes and consider him controversial. Hobbes was not in any way trying to criticize the religious aspect of leadership or undermine God in his writings. He in fact used a verse in the bible that signifies that all authority comes from God. He is instead insisting on the importance of being realistic about the issues happening around and looking for practical ways of dealing with them. Hobbes’s statements are mainly in reference to how most political leaders come to power basically to fulfill their political ambitions (Matthews, p. 132). Even though most leaders come up with desires to fulfill certain dreams, they may end up abandoning them along the way simply because they care much about what people will say about them. This means that they know, doing what is right and appropriate may make them be disliked by others and hence abandon it. This is basically because as they rise to a new status, they encounter different people that influence them and basically act to please them. As they tirelessly work to please certain individuals, the end results in many being more disastrous to them.
They will come to realize in the long run that they did not fulfill what they wanted to accomplish and that they have also not succeeded in pleasing all individuals. These are some of the natures that Hobbes identified which human beings are always fighting. Comparing this to his scientific philosophical approaches, Hobbes thinks that when the leaders are more concerned about the environmental factors that are affecting their people and doing all they can to ensure that such needs are met, they will be less concerned about pleasing their own interests and the interests of others. Another controversial statement that has been raised by Hobbes concerns justice. He points out that justice may not necessarily be what the law may think is right. Justice differs from an individual perspective. What may be justifiable to one is totally different from what may be justifiable to another. If justice has to be as per its definition, then it is obvious that one person will have to suffer at the expense of the other as long as they have valid reasons to defend their actions as just.
In his book titled leviathan, which was written during the English civil wars, he insists on the importance of a nation having a central authority that can instill unity. When people are made to obey and do what their leader says, it becomes easier for them to get rid of their naturally selfish nature. It will not be a situation whereby different people that are in authority come up with contradicting ideas that can not be implemented at ago. The main cause of civil wars is usually the different desires among people which cannot be implemented at ago. The result here will always be for the conflicting parties to force their way through which may be forceful. This, they do fail to realize that they are not only wasting resources but also making a certain category of innocent people suffer. It will also lead to other serious consequences that may affect both current and future generations. There are a number of distractions that are done on both public and private property which affects the economic standing of a nation. The leaders that may have been responsible for such wars may not be there to suffer the consequences they caused (Morgan, p. 57). It is left to the generations to come, who may not have been party to such wars. This is basically the clarity that he was trying to bring about in consideration of the selfish nature of individuals.
Conclusion
Hobbes believes that he had accomplished his purpose of advocating for peace through his writings. Although he received a lot of criticism and accusations especially from Christians, he did not miss out on his message of restoring harmony among leaders. He had a strong belief in God and believed that he had sovereign authority overall. He however did not want people to be so much ignorant of the very issues that are affecting them when they had the ability to solve them. Human nature is always self-seeking and in want at all times. An individual that feels that they can adequately satisfy their inner being is wrong as it is almost impossible. People should hence instead identify a person that has the ability to guide them and allow them to make and implement policies that they should be ready to follow. They may not agree in different aspects but it will save them the situation of wasting more resources and not being able to accomplish anything. If people feel dissatisfied with a central leadership in place, they have the power to overthrow them and bring in one that will serve them effectively.
Works cited
- Matthews, Michael. The Scientific background to modern philosophy: selected readings. New York: Hackett Publishing, 1989.
- Morgan, Michael. Classics of moral and political theory. New York: Hackett Publishing, 2005