HSTEU 302 Wk I Friday  Discussion: Hobbes on nature, law, and state.

Reading: Hobbes Leviathan [link on web page] 
   Palmer & Colton, Ch 7 (#30) section on Hobbes pp. 249-251 [Short but important!] 
   Read selection carefully as introduction to basic 17th C. political concepts.
   We will consider the same concepts, differently defined by Locke. 

Context: English Civil War: Hobbes as royalist, defender of absolute monarchy
                tutor to Stuart King Charles II in exile, after 1649 execution of Charles I
                opposed to Puritan revolution, regicide, Civil War (= anarchy)

Vocabulary: end = goal, or purpose
                    covenant = Old Testament term for “contract” between God & Jews;
                                       Protestant Reformation uses this to describe “godly rule”
Human nature:
What are the basic qualities Hobbes sees as characteristic of men in general?

State of nature:  What are the “natural” relationships among men like?

State of war:
Is there a different between the state of nature and the state of war for Hobbes?
What are the contemporary examples that he gives of states of war? 

Law of nature: 
Hobbes engages in a polemic with the medieval natural law tradition.
How does he view the idea of natural law? (see selections below)
What is “natural” in human relations and what is “agreed upon” or “conventional”? 
What about law, including so-called “natural law”? Is it really “natural”?

Note tension between supposed “laws of nature” & “natural passions”
How do people actually behave in traditional societies?

What about the bees & ants? Are humans "social" like them?
What is different about agreement among men & agreement among bees & ants?

The state, or Leviathan
How does the state come about? What is the relationship of ruler & ruled?
What does Hobbes means by the “covenant”? 
Is his theory of the state basically religious or basically secular? [ key question]
Do subjects have a right to revolt against their ruler? 
How do his views relate to the recent execution of Charles I?

The powers of the state 
What is Hobbes’ opinion about freedom of thought & publication?
Are the powers of the state extensive or limited?

Types of state
Hobbes uses traditional Aristotelian categories to describe types of govt:
                       what are they? Note the "good" versus "bad" categories.
How do public and private interests differ? Should they differ, according to Hobbes?

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651):  see Hobbes link for 8 page selection
available in class as Xeroxed Handout