Leviathan 1 Thomas Hobbes 13.
The natural condition of mankind
more to hold it up than is done by any opinion the faithful only among Catholics but even in the church that has most
have about the sanctity, wisdom, or honesty of their teachers! presumptuously claimed to be reformed. [Curley suggests that
So I can attribute all the changes of religion in the world to this is aimed at the Presbyterians.]
the very same single cause, namely unpleasing priests—not
Chapter 13. The natural condition of mankind as concerning their happiness and misery
Nature has made men so equal in their physical and that in an equal period of time spent on things that they
mental capacities that, although sometimes we may find one equally apply themselves to. What may make such equality
man who is obviously stronger in body or quicker of mind incredible is really just one’s vain sense of one’s own wisdom,
than another, yet taking all in all the difference between one which •most men think they have more of than the common
and another is not so great that one man can claim to have herd—that is, more than anyone else except for a few others
any advantage ·of strength or skill or the like· that can’t just whom they value because of their fame or because their
as well be claimed by some others. As for •strength of body: agreement with •them. It’s just a fact about human nature
the weakest man is strong enough to kill the strongest, either that however much a man may acknowledge many others to
by a secret plot or by an alliance with others who are in the be more •witty, or more •eloquent, or more •learned than he
same danger that he is in. is, he won’t easily believe that many men are as •wise as he
As for •the faculties of the mind: I find that men are even is; for he sees his own wisdom close up, and other men’s at
more equal in these than they are in bodily strength. (In this a distance. This, however, shows the equality of men rather
discussion I set aside skills based on words, and especially than their inequality. For ordinarily there is no greater sign
the skill—known as ‘science’—of being guided by general that something is equally distributed than that every man is
and infallible rules. Very few people have this, and even contented with his share!
they don’t have it with respect to many things. I am setting ·Competition ·: This equality of ability produces equality
it aside because it isn’t a natural faculty that we are born of hope for the attaining of our goals. So if any two men
with, nor is it something that we acquire—as we acquire want a single thing which they can’t both enjoy, they become
prudence—while looking for something else.) Prudence is enemies; and each of them on the way to his goal (which is
simply experience; and men will get an equal amount of principally his own survival, though sometimes merely his
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Leviathan 1 Thomas Hobbes 13. The natural condition of mankind
delight) tries to destroy or subdue the other. And so it comes So that in the nature of man, we find three principal
about that when someone has through farming and building causes of discord. First •competition, secondly •distrust,
come to possess a pleasant estate, if an invader would have thirdly •glory.
nothing to fear but that one man’s individual power, there The first makes men invade for •gain; the second for
will probably be an invader—someone who comes with united •safety; and the third for •reputation. The first use violence
forces to deprive him not only of the fruit of his labour but to make themselves masters of other men’s persons, wives,
also of his life or liberty. And the ·successful· invader will children, and cattle; the second use it to defend them·selves
then be in similar danger from someone else. and their families and property·; the third use it for trifles—a
·Distrust ·: Because of this distrust amongst men, the word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of a
most reasonable way for any man to make himself safe is to low regard for them personally, if not directly then obliquely
strike first, that is, by force or cunning subdue other men—as through a disrespectful attitude to their family, their friends,
many of them as he can, until he sees no other power great their nation, their profession, or their name.
enough to endanger him. This is no more than what he needs This makes it obvious that for as long as men live without
for his own survival, and is generally allowed. ·And it goes a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in the
further than you might think·. Some people take pleasure condition known as ‘war’; and it is a war of every man against
in contemplating their own power in the acts of conquest, every man. For WAR doesn’t consist just in •battle or the act
pursuing them further than their security requires, ·and this of fighting, but in •a period of time during which it is well
increases the security needs of others·. People who would enough known that people are willing to join in battle. So the
otherwise be glad to be at ease within modest bounds have to temporal element in the notion of ‘when there is war’ is like
increase their power by further invasions, because without the temporal element in ‘when there is bad weather’. What
that, in a purely defensive posture, they wouldn’t be able to constitutes bad weather is not a rain-shower or two but an
survive for long. This increase in a man’s power over others inclination to rain through many days together; similarly,
ought to be allowed to him, as it is necessary to his survival. what constitutes war is not actual fighting but a known
·Glory·: Every man wants his associates to value him disposition to fight during a time when there is no assurance
as highly as he values himself; and any sign that he is to the contrary. All other time is PEACE.
disregarded or undervalued naturally leads a man to try, as Therefore, whatever results from •a time of war, when
far as he dares, to raise his value in the eyes of others. For every man is enemy to every man, also results from •a
those who have disregarded him, he does this by violence; time when men live with no other security but what their
for others, by example. I say ‘as far as he dares’; but when own strength and ingenuity provides them with. In such
there is no common power to keep them at peace, ‘as far conditions there is
as he dares’ is far enough to make them destroy each other. no place for hard work, because there is no assurance
That is why men don’t get pleasure (and indeed do get much that it will yield results; and consequently no culti-
grief) from being in the company of other men without there vation of the earth, no navigation or use of materials
being a power that can over-awe them all. that can be imported by sea, no construction of large
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Leviathan 1 Thomas Hobbes 13. The natural condition of mankind
buildings, no machines for moving things that require places where people live like that even now. For the savage
much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no people in many parts of America have no government at all
account of time, no practical skills, no literature or except for the government of small families, whose harmony
scholarship, no society; and—worst of all—continual depends on natural lust. Those savages live right now in
fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man the brutish manner I have described. Anyway, we can see
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. what way of life there would be if there were no common
It may seem strange to you, if you haven’t thought hard power to fear, from the degenerate way of life into which civil
about these things, that nature should thus separate men war has led men who had formerly lived under a peaceful
from one another and make them apt to invade and destroy government.
one another. So perhaps you won’t trust my derivation of Even if there had never been any time at which
this account from the nature of the passions, and will want •individual men were in a state of war one against another,
to have the account confirmed by experience. Well, then, this is how •kings, and persons of sovereign authority relate
think about how you behave: when going on a journey, you to one another at all times. Because of their independence
arm yourself, and try not to go alone; when going to sleep, from one another, they are in continual mutual jealousies.
you lock your doors; even inside your own house you lock Like gladiators, with their •weapons pointing and their •eyes
your chests; and you do all this when you know that there fixed on one another, sovereigns have •forts, garrisons, and
are laws, and armed public officers of the law, to revenge guns on the frontiers of their kingdoms, and permanent
any harms that are done to you. Ask yourself: what opinion •spies on their neighbours—this is a posture of war, as much
do you have of your fellow subjects when you ride armed? as the gladiators’ is. But because in this the sovereigns
Of your fellow citizens when you lock your doors? Of your uphold the economy of their nations, their state of war
children and servants when you lock your chests? In all doesn’t lead to the sort of misery that occurs when individual
this, don’t you accuse mankind as much by your actions men are at liberty ·from laws and government·.
as I do by my words? Actually, neither of us is criticising In this war of every man against every man nothing can
man’s nature. The desires and other passions of men aren’t be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and
sinful in themselves. Nor are actions that come from those injustice have no place there. Where there is no common
passions, until those who act know a law that forbids them; power, there is no law; and where there is no law, there
they can’t know this until laws are made; and they can’t be is no injustice. In war the two chief virtues are force and
made until men agree on the person who is to make them. fraud. Justice and injustice are not among the faculties [here
But why try to demonstrate to learned men something that is = ‘natural capacities’] of the body or of the mind. If they were,
known even to dogs who bark at visitors—sometimes indeed they could be in a man who was alone in the world, as his
only at strangers but in the night at everyone? senses and passions can. They are qualities that relate to
It may be thought that there has never been such a time, men in society, not in solitude. A further fact about the state
such a condition of war as this; and I believe it was never of war of every man against every man: in it there is no such
generally like this all over the world. Still, there are many thing as ownership, no legal control, no distinction between
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Leviathan 1 Thomas Hobbes 14. The first and second laws
mine and thine. Rather, anything that a man can get is his •desire for things that are necessary for comfortable living,
for as long as he can keep it. and a •hope to obtain these by hard work. And reason
So much for the poor condition that man is actually suggests convenient items in a peace treaty that men may
placed in by mere •nature; but ·as I now go on to explain·, he be got to agree on. These items are the ones that in other
can extricate himself from it, partly through his •passions, contexts are called the Laws of Nature. I shall have more to
partly through his •reason. say about them in the two following chapters.
The passions that incline men to peace are •fear of death,
Chapter 14. The first and second natural laws, and contracts
The RIGHT OF NATURE, which writers commonly call jus anything by which he thinks his life can best be preserved.
naturale, is the liberty that each man has to make his own For although those who speak of this subject commonly
decisions about how to use his own power for the preserva- run together right and law (jus and lex), they ought to be
tion of his own nature—i.e. his own life—and consequently distinguished. RIGHT consists in the liberty to do or not do
·the liberty· of doing anything that he thinks is the aptest ·as one chooses·, whereas LAW picks on one of them—either
means to that end. [The Latin phrase jus naturale standardly meant doing or not doing—and commands it. So law differs from
‘natural law’; but jus could mean ‘right’, and Hobbes is clearly taking the right as much as obligation differs from liberty—which ·are
phrase to mean ‘natural right’.] so different that· it would be inconsistent to suppose that a
The proper meaning of LIBER TY is the absence of external person had both liberty and an obligation in respect of the
obstacles. Such obstacles can often take away part of a same action.
man’s power to do what he wants, but they can’t get in the As I said in chapter 13, the condition of man is a condition
way of his using his remaining power in obedience to his of war of everyone against everyone, so that everyone is
judgment and reason. governed by his own reason and can make use of anything
A LAW OF NATURE (lex naturalis) is a command or general he likes that might help him to preserve his life against his
rule, discovered by reason, which forbids a man to •do enemies. From this it follows that in such a condition every
anything that is destructive of his life or takes away his man has a right to everything—even to someone else’s body.
means for preserving his life, and forbids him to •omit As long as this continues, therefore—that is, as long as every
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