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Hobbes and the Natural Law
Germanna Community College Fredericksburg Campus
PHIL 226
Presented by: Shaun Kenney
Hobbes and the Natural Law
Who the heck am I?
Thomas Hobbes was born on April 5th 1588 in Malmesbury, the very day the Spanish Armada attacked the British Navy in an effort to crush Protestant England.
He was educated at Oxford and served as a tutor to the Earl of Devonshire.
In 1640, Hobbes published his first book entitled Elements of Law in support of the King against Parliament.
Hobbes and the Natural Law
Unfortunately the Royalists in France didn’t like me either thanks to some of my anti-Catholic views, so in 1652 I returned to
England and endured life under Cromwell.
As the war between Parliament and King Charles II broiled during the 1640’s, Hobbes exiled himself to Paris, where he wrote De Cive and his most famous work, Leviathan.
In England, Hobbes continued to be dogged by critics as an atheist, royalist, and profaner.
Hobbes New Political Science
Thanks to my new understanding of physics, I have discovered that there are certain immutable laws
that can determine our physical world.
Hobbes’ view of life under political systems was marked by chaos. As a consequence, Hobbes sought to impose a new kind of political understanding based on the “natural philosophy” of Sir Issac Newton.
Sweeeeet. . .
Hobbes New Political Science
“Method, therefore, in the study of philosophy, is the shortest way of finding
effects by their known causes, or of causes by their known effects.” -- Elements of
Philosophy
If the Newtonian understanding of the universe was correct, then surely Hobbes could apply its principles to the world as well.
Hobbes New Political ScienceWhat Hobbes wanted to accomplish was a new ordering of political life under the state. This ordering he called the Leviathan.
This Leviathan was the social compact necessary to create peace and gain order, comprised of societies of free men who were willing to submit themselves to such an arrangement.
This arrangement of free men submitting themselves to the will of the state demanded an absolute.
That absolute was the sovereign authority of the ruler.
PositivismHobbes’ idea of the Leviathan stemmed from Job 41:
Can you lead about the Leviathan with a hook, or curb his tongue with a bit?Is he not relentless when aroused; who dare stands before him?Whoever may vainly hope to do so need only see him to be overthrown.
Hobbes intended for the idea of the state to be as absolute as in Job.
Positivism
The difference between my idea and the past was that the Leviathan relied on the
consent of the governed for its power – not religious authority from God.
This idea of “sovereign authority” was not a new one. Indeed, Catholic Europe had practiced the idea long before Hobbes reinvented the idea.
Part of the reason why Hobbes was harassed with the charge of atheism was because of his insistence that rights came from the state – not from religious authorities.
PositivismDuring the Dark Ages, the idea of the sovereign right of kings was paramount to order and stability in the age of Christendom.
While the name “positivism” would not be coined until the French philosophy of Auguste Comte arrived in the early 19th century, the positivist idea that those with power dictate morality is implied in the social contract of the Leviathan state.
Before the reintroduction of Aristotle to Western Civilization, the argument could be made that positivism was indeed the moral form of governance in Christendom.
Thomas AquinasBut with the reintroduction of Aristotle to the Western mind came new ideas of the origins of law and morality.
Although Aristotle cannot be properly titled the father of natural law theory, his ideas on ethics and the source of morality did influence medieval thinkers such as Averroes and Albertus Magnus.
Albertus Magus would be the great translator of many of the Arabic manuscripts, and these writings would help Thomas Aquinas synthesize medieval Augustinian thought with the rediscovered philosophy of Aristotle.
Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas is today considered to be the father of natural law theory.
In short, laws became moral because they were absolute just
like their originator – God.
Before my natural law theory, God was simply
more powerful than the law. After my theories on natural
law, God became the founder of the law.
Catholic Natural LawBecause human beings are created by God, Aquinas argues that all nature is directed towards one ultimate and final end (God).
“Those actions which conform with its tendencies, lead to our destined end, and are thereby constituted right and morally good; those at variance with our nature are wrong and immoral.” -- The Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Natural LawSince human action is always directed towards happiness (as derived from Aristotle), and since the supreme happiness that one can achieve is union with God, no human being can react morally in opposition to the goodness to which they are called.
That goodness is God through the natural law.
Catholic Natural LawThis understanding of goodness and morality has profound effects on the nature of Catholic governance – and the influence the Church has on issues concerning morality (namely lawmaking).
No rational creature escapes the natural law, as everything is created by God and thereby
influenced.
Catholic Natural LawWith the advent of the Reformation and the increasing secularization of nation states within Europe, Catholic ideas of natural law and its influence on lawmaking are discarded for a more direct, authoritarian approach to governance.
By the dawn of the Enlightenment, the effects of the Protestant Reformation had liberalized philosophical thought to the degree that a new political paradigm was in order.
Hobbesian Natural LawThe England that Thomas Hobbes came into was a nation torn within, and surrounded with enemies from Catholic Spain and Catholic France.
The chaos Hobbes found his homeland in spurred him to devise a new form of political philosophy that would restore order.
Hobbesian Natural LawFirst, Hobbes considered the natural state of mankind:
This sense of equality was not a moral statement by any stretch, but rather a recognition of the idea of the equal state of mankind.
“Nature hath made men equal.”
Hobbesian Natural LawSecondly, Hobbes considers the motivation of men, namely competition, diffidence, and glory.
“The first makes man invade for gain; the second for safety, and
the third for reputation.”
Hobbesian Natural LawWhatever the reasons, Hobbes concludes that at the root of all human action is not happiness as Aristotle advocates, but rather fear and self interest.
Furthermore, Hobbes regards these passions as being stronger than human reason, and without a greater power to keep these passions in check, mankind would ultimately revert to a status of constant warfare.
Hobbesian Natural Law
“The passions that incline men to peace, are fear of death;
desire of things as necessary to commodious living, and a
hope by their industry to attain them, and reason suggests
convenient articles of peace. . . Otherwise called laws of
nature.” -- De Cive
Hobbesian Natural LawThus Hobbes establishes the first principle of his natural law; that natural law stems from the dictates of a properly disposed reason, and all other laws of nature are derived from this First Principle.
Hobbes then lays forth his three laws of nature.
Hobbesian Natural LawFirst, that all men should seek peace, and that if he cannot seek it, then he should make use of violent means (war) in order to achieve peace.
Second, in order to preserve this peace, he and his fellow men should be willing to lay down their rights in order to preserve this peace.
Third, that men should honor their covenants for the sake of justice and peace.
Hobbesian Natural LawHobbes is quick to note that these laws of nature are contrary to the natural state of human beings.
“Without the terror of some power, to cause them to be observed, [these laws] are
contrary to our natural passions. . . (a)nd covenants
without the sword, are but words.”
Hobbesian Natural LawSo Hobbes introduces the idea of an absolute sovereign who can enforce these social contracts justly:
Where is that giant snake of mine?
Hobbes enters upon the idea that one person be entrusted with full authority, and that all citizens of the state observe this social contract.
Hobbesian Natural Law
Hobbes states that the citizens of the state should assent their own wills to that of the sovereign:
“This is the generation of that great LEVIATHAN, or rather. . . of that mortal god, to which we owe under the Immortal God, our peace and defense.”
Sweeeeet. . .
Hobbesian Natural LawConcepts such as liberty and freedom are given a secondary status in this Leviathan, existing only so long as it is convenient for the state to allow them to exist.
Citizens have the right to do anything not expressly forbidden by law, with the idea that the Leviathan has the explicit right to restrict those freedoms for the preservation of peace.
This also extends to a right to rebellion, which is a violation of the social contract.
Hobbes and AquinasOf course, Hobbes couldn’t resist taking aim at the old paradigm. . .
Hobbes believed that Aristotelian philosophy undermined his own by placing the ultimate moral authority beyond the state.
“Two go in! One comes out!”
Hobbes and AquinasAristotelianism’s emphasis on happiness directly threatened the viability of the social contract.
Aquinas and Catholic natural law became natural enemies to the Leviathan state, and Hobbes would harass Aristotelianism on topics such as essence and existence.
“Break a deal, spin the wheel!”
Hobbes and AquinasHOBBES
• Fear and self interest as the prime motive•Laws are obeyed because of the social contract• Justice stems from the state• Natural law is arrived at through the strength of the absolute sovereign
AQUINAS
• Seeking happiness in God as the prime motive• Laws are obeyed because they reflect God’s goodness• Justice stems from God•Natural law is arrived at by the reflection of God in creation
Hobbes and AquinasIn the Summa Theologicae, Aquinas makes the following argument:
God is perfect goodness, and therefore the summation of all that is good. Since happiness
seeks the highest good, happiness ultimately seeks God
as its final end.
Hobbes and AquinasNot so with Hobbes. . .
Goodness has a much more subjective meaning to it that this. What is good is what is
desirable, and that can only be achieved in a state of peace, for which you need a stable
social environment. . .
Hobbes and AquinasEven with this subjective notion of the good, Hobbesian natural law is still in good standing.
Of course the desiring of what is good is common. Human beings
have similar compositions, physiologies, and such that we
can draw certain conclusions, just as Newton does with his physics.
Hobbes and AquinasNaturally, Scholastics then and today have a response.
So either there is a reflection of natural law in the desiring of what is good or Hobbesian natural law is reduced to
subjectivity.
Hobbes and AquinasThe two competing versions of natural law theory – though not direct competitors – moved beyond Hobbesian attempts to contrast the failings of Aristotle with his own successes.
Notable scholars such as John Locke followed up on Hobbesian natural law theory, while Thomistic thought languished for centuries until the Neo-Thomistic revival of the late 19th century.
Hobbes’ LegacyToday, most adherents to natural law philosophy stem from the Thomistic school of thought.
But my theories on social contracts and natural law strongly influenced John Locke, whose writings
influenced the Founding Fathers of the U.S.
Constitution.
Hobbes’ Legacy
It was Hobbes that introduced the idea that the state can guarantee rights independent of the Church – a freedom that many Americans take for granted today.
Without my contribution to political philosophy, the likelihood of inalienable
rights being introduced to the American Republic would have been slim.
Hobbes’ LegacyAfter publishing Leviathan, the British Parliament harassed him with the dual charges of atheism and royalist sympathies for the rest of his life.
When plague and the Great Fire of 1666 hit London, Leviathan becomes suspect by a superstitious Parliament.
Intercession by the King saves his life, but prohibits Hobbes from publishing.
Hobbes’ LegacyHobbes finishes one more book, Behemoth, which is refused publication.
He translates copies of the Iliad and the Odyssey before his death in 1679 at the age of 91.
Hobbes’ LegacyWhile Hobbes’ writings were not altogether popular with Parliament, they had a strong effect on notions of separation of church and state – in direct contrast to Thomistic natural law.
His admiration for such contemporaries as Newton marked his empirical and deterministic style of moral political philosophy.
Hobbes’ LegacyWhile Hobbesian natural law may not be accepted or effective in today’s modern society, his contributions to philosophy and to the role of church-state relations are still being felt in democracies today.
THE END
