The View Of Human Nature And National Sovereignty In Leviathan And Its Influence

In the wake of the reformation in the sixteenth century,the North West European countries unshackled themselves from the Roman Catholic Church and embraced Protestantism.However,at the same time,it also put forward a problem of solemnity——after the exodus from Roman Catholicism,what is the purpose of the state.Hobbes endeavors to confront with this issue in the now classic Leviathan.With regard to it,Hobbes begins to reflect on the nature of humanity and then infers from the implications the living condition before the existence of the state.By means of the foregoing thinking,he finally gives his answer to the problem concerning the purpose of the state.Hobbes contends that life derives from body's motions that are subject to self-preservation.Under the natural condition,lacking a political authority,every human being strives to survive by resorting to violence——it's not due to maliciousness or fatuity,but to the nature of humanity,self-preservation.As regards the purpose of the state,the essence of Hobbes' s answer is to preserve life and achieve peace.Due to self-preservation being of fundamental importance,in the Hobbesian human nature,all human actions rotate around it——pursuing survival advantages and shunning harms——and humans are also capable of reasoning.This observation bolsters Hobbes to deduce that every man has the right of nature and understands the laws of nature.Consequently,according to Hobbes,by virtue of the laws of nature,people compromise to sign a contract for creating the sovereign,transferring their own natural right to the sovereign and subjecting themselves to the laws and orders of the sovereign.The contract Hobbes conceives gives birth to a powerful Leviathan,but,as pointed out beforehand,the purpose of the state is to preserve life and achieve peace,which behooves the sovereign,on behalf of all people,to protect people and maintain social stability.The modern political philosophy is pioneered by Hobbes.Although the realism of his arguments is unpopular,Leviathan purports an array of issues which leads us to contemplate the nature of politics.In fact,we still,more or less,live in a Hobbesian epoch,an epoch of international anarchy.In a comparison among the contentions of the political philosophers anterior,and posterior,to Hobbes,the importance of Hobbes in the history of Western political philosophy can never be underestimated.About a century ago,Machiavelli recollected the ancient Rome's political experience,pointing to the significance of power in politics.Leo Strauss believes Machiavelli the first modern political philosopher,due to that politics is no longer,by Machiavelli,concerned from a religious aspect,but seen as a sheer secular affair.However,Machiavelli's work is far from being a systematic political philosophy.Meanwhile,in Leviathan,Hobbes expounds on the social contract theory.The core of social contract theory is that a rational contract is signed,voluntarily by people of freedom,based on equality.By the contract the political principles establish.Despite the fact that the Hobbesian social contract has been kept being criticized and denounced since its first appearance in history,nevertheless,the overriding influence of Hobbes' s conceptual and structural innovations is witnessed throughout the later development of political philosophy.It is no exaggeration that Hobbes bridges the division between Plato,Aristotle,and Locke,Rousseau,Kant and Rawls.Therefore,in the ensuing meticulous study on Leviathan,a prudent attitude is needed to be held so that a sound grasp of Hobbes' s political philosophy and its historical profundity is possible.