Return of Power? - Analysis of "Of the Natural Condition and the Commonwealth"

From Sociological Theory 2019

Thomas Hobbes was a well-known English philosopher who was recognized for his theories regarding political philosophy and his notions still have many influences on modern political theory today. Hobbes lived from the 16th to the 17th century where he witnessed the English civil war, where he no doubt saw the worst in people fighting over government structure. There were a series of three battles from 1642-1651, leading up to the peak of Hobbes’ theoretical writing, between supporters of King Charles I & II, and Parliamentarians. The outcome of the war was the execution of King Charles I and the exile of his son, Charles II, where the Parliament won, and monarchy was replaced with the commonwealth of England (Mackenzie, 2018). Hobbes was largely impacted by events in England during his time period, since he focused on analyzing and theorizing the state of nature in humans, and the commonwealth. He lived in a time where governments weren’t as stable as they are now, so people were still discovering new ways of governing and political structures.

Hobbes believes we are all born equal in that we all have the same opportunity and ability to grow stronger or more intelligent because experience is how one must grow, which “takes equal time, [and] equally bestowes on all men, in those things they equally apply themselves unto,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 30). His philosophical viewpoint on equality is that we all have the same potential and we can achieve as much as any other person.

For conflict, Hobbes shares the three main reasons people fight from his observations during the war and his own life; competition, diffidence, and glory. According to Hobbes, competition arises when people “invade for gain,” and violence is one of the qualities of competition, where people wish to rule over other men, women, and children (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 31). Safety is concerned with the defending of those people, and is explained by Hobbes as, “when taking a journey, he armes himself, and seeks to go well accompanied; when going to sleep, he locks his dores; when even in his house he locks his chest,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 32). Finally, glory is proving to be better than others either through “a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other signe of undervalue,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 31).

Related to politics and government, Hobbes proposes that in order for humanity to progress and better their skills, they require a common power to maintain peace and keep disputes at bay and laws to determine what is just or unjust, and to punish those who deserve it. This is because without a sovereign or someone to follow, people will never be able to agree, and are in a constant state of, what Hobbes refers to as, Warre. Warre is the nature of War, which doesn’t mean actual fighting, but instead, that people feel the natural urge to argue and fight if they have differing opinions. As for laws, these can not be created or put into place until the public agrees upon who will make them, (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 32). Hobbes strongly believes people need a type of common power, and without, we would have, “no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation… no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and… continuall feare and danger of violent death,” and he characterizes people as “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 32). One can see how he would comes to these conclusions from the circumstances of the time. I would argue the conflict of the War is actually due to a central power and societal affluence and it's repercussions for humans departing from their hunter-gatherer, family village from the lifestyles of their wild ancestors. The conflict over territory/resources/space has just been amplified with the struggle for power between larger parties.

For the natural laws, Hobbes describes two laws that are controlled by people’s reason and their own choices; the Fundamental Law of Nature and the Right of Nature. The Fundamental Law of Nature means, in short, “to seek Peace, and follow it,” and the Right of Nature means, “by all means we can to defend ourselves,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 34). Hobbes proposes in the first law that people inherently desire peace, and the second law comes from the first one, wherein, “whatsoever you require that others should do to you, that do ye to them,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 34). For commonwealth to be possible, people must partake in these two natural laws.

The last requirement for common power and commonwealth to occur is concluded by Hobbes for people to, “reduce all their Wills, by plurality of voices, unto one Will… to appoint one man, or Assembly of men, to beare their Person,” and “to submit their Wills, everyone to his Will, and their Judgments, to his Judgment,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 35). This is to say people must relinquish part of their will and liberty to a sovereign to form a completely functional government that allows “Common Peace and Safetie,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 35).

Further, Hobbes defines a sovereign and what it means to be one, where the sovereign carries the person of everyone, and is said to have “sovereign power,” while everyone else is considered his subjects. There are two ways for the sovereign to accomplish a working government and have full leadership over the public; one way is to do so by force, where the sovereign will destroy them, which is called Commonwealth by Acquisition, and the other is voluntarily by the people, where they come peacefully. When people choose to follow the sovereign freely, this is referred to as Political Common-wealth or Commonwealth by Institution.

The English civil war must have affected his propositions about people and might explain why he feels the world is “every man, against every man,” (Hobbes, 1651, pg. 32). Since Hobbes experienced a time where people fought over how the government should be, the idea of commonwealth may have emerged because of this conflict between people. Hobbes may feel very strongly about the idea of commonwealth because once the Parliament adopted the commonwealth, the War subsided, and that may have contributed toward it being the best option in his eyes. Hobbes rests on the case that humankind strives to separate from nature, to expel themselves of their natural tendencies and their innate animal desires, and in doing so a common power is thus born, as a representative of the commonwealth for all. Naturally, this leads to power struggles among the many structures of power systems created by humans, and is unavoidable once humankind removes themselves from their natural world. The remaining solution is to return to where we came from, having learned of our mistakes from history and relinquish ourselves of the competitive mindset, reversing the programming "civil" society has imparted upon us. We are fully aware that once an established power is named, greed inevitably soon follows. Recognizing how our progress in "civilizing" ourselves is important to acknowledge our learned lessons up to the current period, and then taking the evolution of consciousness and developing a relationship with our maker once again, dirt & roots. We are at a time where we are all in this together, replenishing, healing, rebeautifying, or else we will all suffer major consequences. There shall be no more power imbalances if we want to make it out of this next battle for all of humankind, alive..

Citations:

1. Mackenzie, Laura. 2018. “What Caused the English Civil War?” History Hit.

2. Hobbes, Thomas. 1651. "Of the Natural Condition and the Commonwealth" Chapter 1. https://catalogimages.wiley.com/images/db/pdf/9780470655672.excerpt.pdf

3. Image: https://www.britannica.com/event/English-Civil-Wars