The Problem of Human Nature (1)

In the Leviathan (published in 1651) Hobbes would defend the absoluteness of the sovereign's power in the state, but behind it there was his pessimistic view about human nature, namely that every individual was essentially egoistic and always sought only his own self-preservation and security, irrespective of his doing damage to those of other individuals. According to Hobbes's analysis, essentially egoistic men have, by nature, three principal causes to the self-destructive mutual enmity and war. First, Competition : Secondly, Diffidence : Thirdly, Glory. And if a common power which makes laws and enforces severe punishment for their infringements is not established, they fall inevitably into a state of war with one another. Therefore, Hobbes defended complete and ultimate authority of the sovereign and insisted that, only when all men, as subjects, unconditionally submitted themselves to him, stable and constant peace could be maintained among them. His political absolutism, however, was theoretically rejected by Locke's "Two Treatises of Government" (published two years after the Glorious Revolution in 1688), and in the first half of the eighteenth century appeared a group of moralists, who opposed Hobbes's view. Their criticism of Hobbes was mainly directed against his account of human nature which lay behind his political theory. They said, "Man is by nature a social being, has a moral sense by which he discerns moral values and moral distinctions, and therefore can complete by himself his own good nature, without assistance of external sanctions by the state." Shaftesbury and Butler are among this group. They take it for granted that "all social love, friendship, gratitude, or whatever else is of this generous kind, does by its nature take place of the self-interesting passions, draws us out of ourselves, and makes us disregardful of our own convenience and safety." Hence, in this paper our attention is paid to their thought and their criticism of Hobbes. Further, through examining their thought itself, a consideration about human nature is to be done