Hobbes’ Philosophy: Natural Desire For Power And Control (Essay Sample)

Hobbes’ Philosophy
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The philosophy of Hobbes states that the first people to occupy the planet Earth lived in anarchy as the order and state of nature truly dictated thanks to mankind’s natural desire for power and control (Hobbes, 1999). Whether or not his theory is true or false is a matter of opinion and not fact. Scholars and philosophy students alike have attempted to resonate with Hobbes’ averments but none has conclusively determined the truth or lack thereof in Hobbes’ pronouncements in the Leviathan. A significant portion of scholars have reiterated that human beings have never lived without set rules and subsequent submission to an individual who has absolute power of enforcing them, thus demonstrating clearly that they find Hobbes’ theory persuading.
Thomas Hobbes argued that in order to understand a political society, it is significant to first understand its various components that include people. There is need to have an adequate understanding of the agreement that has formed part of the society and understand the status and form of the state. By this logic, it seems tenable that indeed Hobbes’ theory has some truth in it judging from historical studies and the study of early man (Hobbes, 2016). The evidence that years of research has adduced seems to portray early mankind as primitive and thirsty for power and control of other beings. Despite naturally having dominion over other creatures, history depicts earlier civilizations as driven by self-interests and not the welfare of other people.
Hobbes’ school of thought is justified in the context of self-preservation which is the most vital desire. Indeed, anarchy has been in existence all along and this came with some authority and set of laws. Were it not for the submission of mankind to higher authorities; in this case aristocratic rulers, civilization may never have been reached. In fact, the beginning of having sovereign civil societies is considered the end of the reign of anarchy in the historical context (Ahrensdof, 2003). The natural right of any human being conflicts with that of the other people and therefore for individuals to live in peace and harmony there is a need for a set of rules. For an individual to exercise the authority and enforce the rules in earlier eras, monarchs were necessary. Hobbes supposes that the right of one person prescribes an equal obligation on another and hence tyranny no longer had room upon the delamination of rights to be guaranteed by higher authorities (Hobbes, 2016).
Throughout the study of history, the one thing that has become more and more apparent is the fact that mankind strived to be better in all senses. In addition to technological advancements, human beings have demonstrated a consistent trend of improving from previous standards of living and that includes socio-political welfare. The inception of the civil society in the 20th century is proof that in earlier periods, people did not fetter any consideration to the welfare of others. Though there might have been undocumented schools of thought that existed in the earlier days that advocated for civil rights, it is only in the recent years that human beings have expressed interest in the welfare of others (Ahrensdof, 2003). This suggests that prior to the civil rights revolution, the generations that existed a...