State of Nature Cont’d
In my last blog i talked about what Hobbes calls the State of Nature, also refered to as the state of war. A quick recap reminds us that goods are limited and in our efforts to survive we must compete in order to obtain these resources.
From this, Hobbes tells us how mankind has adapted to this force of nature by creating what he calls a “social contract”.
The essence of the social contract is founded upon the notion that in a state of nature all beings have unlimited rights, such as teh right to murder, steal, and so forth. By entering into a social contract however, you relinquish these rights in return for protection from others doing the same. What i mean is this, you give up your right to murder someone else, and in return all those around you do the same, so you are protected from being murdered by this social contract.
