Today

1
Today

• Very quick review of sovereigns powers
• Miserable objection
• Counterexample objection
• Natural morals objection ethical egoism
• First compliance objection the Fool

2

• Its impossible for the sovereign to violate the
  social contract.
• All are under sovereigns power.
• The sovereign can never be guilty of injustice.
• The sovereign can never be punished in any way.
• The sovereign has absolute authority over
• peace and defense, speech, the press, property,
  the legal system, the military, taxation,
  government officials, the economy, status, honor,
  and religion.

3

• Sovereigns Power
• Unconditional, Unlimited, Undivided
• There is no distinction between the person and
  the office of the sovereign.
• A kingdom divided in itself cannot stand.

4
Miserable Objection

• But a man may here object that condition of
  subjects is very miserable, as being obnoxious to
  the lusts and other irregular passions of him or
  them that have so unlimited power in their
  hands.

5
Hobbess response

• The worst government is still better than the
  state of nature.

6
Hobbess response

• It is in the sovereigns own interests for his or
  her subjects to be prosperous.

7
Counterexample Obection

• There are counterexamples to the Hobbesian choice
  of state of war or absolute monarch.

8

• If there are such counterexamples to Hobbes, what
  explains where Hobbes went wrong?

9
Natural Morals Obection

• There are natural moral principles that Hobbes
  doesnt recognize.

10

• Psychological Egoism humans always do what they
  think is in their own interests.
• Ethical Egoism humans ought always to do what
  really is in their own long-term rational
  self-interests.

11

• Hobbess Ethical Egoism
• Humans ought always to do what will best promote
  their own survival.

12

• The Hobbesian Right of Nature is the liberty
  each man hath to use his own power, as he will
  himself, for the preservation of his own nature,
  that is to say, of his own life, and consequently
  of doing anything which, in his own judgment and
  reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means
  thereunto.

13

• There also exists the Law of Nature, by which a
  man is forbidden to do that which is destructive
  of his life or taketh away the means of
  preserving the same, and to omit that by which he
  thinketh it may be best preserved.

14

• How different is Hobbess ethical egoism from
  commonsense?
• Is it possible for a person to fail to live in
  accord with Hobbess ethical egoism?

15

• Is self-interest really all there is to morality?
• When could killing an innocent person be right to
  do and wrong not to do?
• Do we lack all ultimate obligation to help or (at
  least not hurt) others?

16
First Compliance Objection

• If human nature and morality are as selfish as
  Hobbes says, how will we ever get out of the
  state of nature?

17
Contract-Keeping Objection

• If human nature and morality are as selfish as
  Hobbes says, how will we ever be able to have a
  satisfactory reliance on people in the
  commonwealth?
• The Fool

18

• Hobbes defines justice as the keeping of
  covenants.
• Justice includes all those agreements, contracts,
  and promises that enable people to cooperate with
  each other and produce all the goods, services
  and security that make society superior to the
  state of nature.

19

• The Fool is someone who thinks he is better off
  being unjust when he can get away with it.
• The Fool is someone who thinks he should violate
  his contracts when hell gain more by doing so
  than by keeping them.
• The Fool is someone who thinks he should cheat,
  lie or steal when its in his own personal
  interest to do so.

20

• The fool hath said in his heart there is no
  such thing as justice and sometimes also with
  his tongue, seriously alleging that every mans
  conservation and contentment being committed to
  his own care, there could be no reason why every
  man might not do what he thought conduced
  thereunto, and therefore also to make or not
  make, keep or not keep, covenants was not against
  reason, when it conduced to ones benefit.

21

• The fool thinks that the only reason to perform
  an action is that it will promote his own good.
• The fool thinks, therefore, that if he can
  benefit from breaking a contract (if he can gain
  an advantage from breaking it and not get
  caught), he ought to do it.
• Does Hobbes agree with the fool?

22

• Why does Hobbes think the Fool is wrong to commit
  injustice?

23
Hobbess answer to the Fool

• The Fool can get away with injustice only if his
  fellows err in their assessment of him. But
  everyone is pretty much mentally equal, so
  theres little reason to think the fool can trick
  everyone all of the time.

24
Hobbess answer to the Fool

• If the Fool is caught, he may be expelled from
  the commonwealth, placing him once again in a
  state of nature. And if the fool is in a state
  of nature vis-à-vis the rest of society, he may
  easily be destroyed.

25
Hobbess answer to the Fool

• The risks of getting caught outweigh any
  potential benefits of getting away with it.

26

• Is it really so difficult to get away with
  injustice?
• Might not the potential benefits sometimes be
  worth the risk?

27

• Is the risk of being caught the only reason not
  to be unjust?
• Might there be some moral imperative besides
  self-interest?
• Does Hobbess view of morality and human nature
  really capture everything we think about those
  topics? Or is he too selfish and negative?
• (This relates to the counterexample, first
  compliance, and natural morals objections.)