Leviathan Ch. 13-15

(Originally written February 3, 2006)

Continental Rationalism
-Descartes
-Spinoza
-Leibniz

British Empiricism
-Locke
-Berkeley
-Hume

Rationalism (early Modern)

1) Built a system by using math and geometry as a model
2) Believed in innate ideas (certain inborn ideas, conceptions, knowledge we have at the time of birth)
3) The explainability thesis: everything is susceptible to some rational explanation

Empiricism (early modern)

1) The source of ideas come from sense data (experience)
2) Justification of their beliefs must produce evidence of that belief

The Scientific Revolution
- Preceded and concurrent with the births of rationalism and empiricism

The pre-scientific revolution cosmology included:
1) geocentricism
2) the heavenly vault
3) the heterogeneity of the universe (terrestrial and celestial bodies moved differently)
4) Aristotelian doctrine of change/motion (demands a cause for motion, that cause also has to have a purpose)
-Efficient Cause - Mechanical
-Telic cause - giver of purpose

Galileo's science did not defeat the Church or Church theology. Galileo's sound theory deposed a bad influence of Aristotelianism on an uncritical theology.

Keys in Scientific Revolution

-Copernican Revolution (heliocentric)
-Kepler's law of planetary motion
-Bruno's infinite cosmos
-Galileo's kinetics

What are the implications of these on philosophy?

1) Universe is rational
2) The world is comprehensible
3) The cosmos is homogenous
4) Fruitfulness of systematic inquiry
5) Teleological (purpose oriented) explanation is no longer necessary

Classics of Philosophy

Ch. 13 of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan

Ch. 13 "of the natural condition of mankind as concerning their felicity, and misery"

Men are made equal. No one can claim to be greater by birth alone. "The weakest has the strength to kill the strongest" (Pojman, 542)

All men believe they are smarter than other men

From the fact that all men are equal in ability, all men have equal hope to achieve a goal. When these goals become conflicting then the men become enemies and both are capable in one way or another of destroying their enemy.

All men want to have their value assessed by their companions (equal, which is all men) assessed at what they have assessed it as.

In the nature of man we find three principles to quarrels
1) Competition
2) Diffidence
3) Glory

Competition makes men invade for gain, use violence for that gain

Diffidence makes men defend their position for safety

Glory makes men fight for glorify and trifles

Without a power to stop them, man is constantly at war with all other men.

The war exists in the act of fighting and in the knowledge that tensions are there that could ignite and inspire fighting. When there is no fighting and no intention of fighting there is peace.

When man is at war, there is no time for life, art, wealth, knowledge or worst of all, society. In times of war there is "continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" (Pojman, 543).

Hobbes condemns men with words, other men condemn them with acts of locking doors and securing themselves.

Sin is not found in man's nature, passions or desires. It is not found even in his actions until he breaks the law.

Where there is no power to fear there is no law. Where there is no law there is no justice.

Justice and injustice do not lie in man or his nature; they lie in society.

The passions or desires that make men want peace are:
1) Fear of death
2) Desire for commodious living
3) The hope for the means to secure the commodious living

Chapter 14: Of the first and second natural law of contracts

The right of nature is the liberty of man to preserve his own life through any means necessary

Liberty is the absence of anything that would stop him from using his power.

A law of nature is a general rule that forbids man to destroy himself.

Right is the liberty to do something.

Law is what forbids them to do something

The first law of nature is to seek peace because it is good for him.

The second law of nature is to defend ourselves by any means necessary when the first law cannot be achieved.

This law is from the Gospel: "do whatever you wish done unto yourself"

If man insists on keeping the right to do whatever he wishes he is constantly at war; but, if he renounces that right and others renounce theirs they are at peace with each other. But not only one man can renounce his right and all others retain theirs for the man who renounced his right in the face of the others retaining theirs breaks the second law of nature by not employing all means to defend himself.

The bonds by which men transfer or renounce their rights to pursue peace are strengthened by the fear of some evil consequence upon the rupture of this agreement. They are not strengthened by the word of men because nothing is so easily broken as the word of man.

The renunciation or transfer of rights by a man is done so for a right being renounced by another or transferred to him by another or in the hopes of good that will come to him.

The mutual transferring of a right is a contract.

If a contract is made when one man's right is immediately transferred for the future transfer of another's right it is called a pact or a covenant.

When one transfers his right in hope of some future good to come to him it is called a gift, free gift or grace and is not a contract.

When a contract is made for both parties to transfer at a future date upon a power over them is needed to quash their constant tendency to return to state of war.

To make a covenant with God is impossible because we cannot know whether or not our covenants have been accepted.

Men are freed of their covenant in 2 ways:
1) by preforming: natural end of an obligation
2) by being forgive: restoration of a liberty

Chapter 15 "of other laws of nature"

The third natural law is that men perform the covenants that they make, otherwise their covenants are in vain and we are still in the condition of war.

Without any covenants there can be no covenants broken and if no covenant is broken than no injustice has been done.

The definition of justice is simply performing no unjust acts (not breaking any covenants)

To be justice their must be no war, because in a state of war there are no unjust acts. To be no war there must be a coercive power to force men to perform their covenants and thus be justice.

To enforce covenants (justice) the punishment of breaking covenants (injustice) must be greater than the anticipated gain of breaking the covenant.

The foolish man states that there is no justice and that there is no God.

The just man is the man who has taken all reasonable care to keep his covenants, the unjust man is the man who has neglected this reasonable care.

A just man does not by one or a few mistakes or unjust acts caused by sudden passion become unjust.

Injury is done to the man who breaks a covenant. Damage is done to the man whose covenant is broken by the other man.

No man gives without the intention of good to himself.

Compliance is a law of nature that states every man must strive to accommodate himself to the rest.

If a man retains what is superfluous to himself, yet necessary to others he should be cast out of society because he has become cumbersome to that society.

Forgiveness is another law of nature. A man should grant forgiveness for offenses past to another man that desires it.

Pardon is a granting of peace.

Another law of nature is that revenge should be forgone for the greatness of good that will follow a lack of revenge.

Avoidance of hatred is a natural law because hatred breeds war.

Another natural law is that all men must acknowledge one another as equal.

Equity is the distributive justice

There can be no unequal share given to different then, for that is contrary to equity.

Where there can be no equal distribution it is determined first by agreement, second by first seizure or first possession

An arbitrator should decide any dispute of covenant.