Civilization Vs Civilization

Hobbes wrote that in earliest history humans lived in unbridled freedom, in a “state of nature,” in which no government existed and no person was subject to any superior power (Magruder's American Government). That which people could take byforce belonged to them. However, all people were similarly free in thes state of nature. No authority existed to protect one person from the aggressive actions of another. Thus, individuals were only safe as their own physical strength and intelligence could make them.

Hobbes believes that in the state of nature, man has no power to control others, and because of this, everyone is aggressive towards one another, as no one can trust another. Because of this, social order is necessary to give man incentive towards cooperation and trust, by selling your individual rights to freedom in order to gain social rights of security and safety. The role of the social order is to combat man’s aggressiveness, man’s power to hurt one another and direct this towards positive social ends instead of destructive.

Thomas Hobbes then begins to explain that what any one man has another may take at will. Some men take pleasure in the conquest of what belongs to another and will take more than they need, while others are content with the bare essentials. Hobbes states that, because it is in man's nature to increase his own power it should be “allowed.” Hobbes states that there are three causes for quarrels between men, the first being competition and the want for man to gain from another through violence. The second is diffidence, or a lack of confidence in one’s own ability of worth which in turn causes men to fight for safety, perhaps to distract another from his insecurities. The third is for the sake of glory, or to secure his reputation. Thomas Hobbes says that, because all men have a natural animalistic inclination to fight for what we want and believe we deserve, a “common power”, a government or hierarchy of some sort, is vital to maintaining a semblance of peace. Hobbes muses that, without security outside of us there will be no industry or commodities, no modern comforts, no society. Without someone to lord over us in some way our future will be one of “continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short…” (pg. 48). And, while we enjoy the

Thus, small groups invite invaders and foster dissent. Hobbes to accepted that man bestowing his power in one leader, “is more than consent, or concord; it is a real unity of them all, in one every man, I authorize and give up my right of governing myself, to this man, or on this condition, that thou give up thy right to him, and authorize all his actions in like manner.” (CWT III, 38). The preceding quote was Hobbes’s opinion of a social contract. This, Hobbes believed, was essential to man escaping the state of nature, and to the formation of a responsible government.

Generally, when people are born, they’re born with curious and wandering minds. As kids, they watch others and look for them to learn and understand. They begin to gain skills and minds of their own with the help of what and who they are surrounded by at a young age. Learning what's right from wrong,to care or not. So when kids are around people who don’t follow the rules or don’t care at all they start to gradually pick up on that; become that. “Most children who

In the beginning of the novel the boys were portrayed as young and innocent children, curious and fond of their surroundings. As the story continues, we can witness the boys going through a survival phase, according to what they witness and feel they react accordingly. They become savage and give into the evil inside of themselves, and follow no of the rules that were set. The plot later reveals that the boy’s in fact are not innocent at all. They are not even close to being innocent. William Golding does a very good job when laying out the habits and the traits of the boys.

For men, the common good is not the private and they can only be happy if they are better off in comparison to others. “Men are continually in competition for honor and dignity, which these creatures are not; and consequently amongst men there ariseth on that ground, envy and hatred, and finally war” (Hobbes, Leviathan, 17, 7). Due to these instinctive desires and behavioral patterns, he believes that the natural condition of man is troublesome and can only lead to a state of chaos and conflict. This state is undesirable and should be avoided. So while men continue to live without a common power to keep them in awe, they will be in a continuous state of war, which is every man against every man. Here, all men are each other’s enemies and the ideas of right and wrong along with just and unjust do

Living in modern societies, it can be difficult to decipher what person would be like in a natural state; without civilizations, rules, and punishments for misbehavior. Does society corrupt our morals or does it keep us civil? The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that people are inherently good. Without civilizations, humans are good beings with empathy, kindness, and well-developed morals. However, he believed that societies corrupt our morals and are what make the change in us to become “evil” or “bad”. The author of the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding, however, believed that in a primitive environment, humans are evil. Without a society watching over us, humans will become barbaric brutes.

Thomas Hobbes claims that in a state of nature, people are constantly fighting against each other, and the only way to overcome this is to form a commonwealth. He does this by going over the conditions that describe a state of nature, certain rights that all people have in nature, and the method for transferring these rights, by way of a pledge to a sovereign, whether it to the one person, or a group of people in order to achieve a state of peace. While Hobbes makes a very clear argument, it does contain some faults when examined. Hobbes addresses these issues and tries to convince the reader that a commonwealth is the only way a society will experience lasting peace.

According to the natural right theory, the state of nature is the original condition of human beings in regard to any common authority. In the state of nature, according to Thomas Hobbes, each individual has a right to everything, even the body/life of the other. The state of nature can lead to the state of moral chaos. Moral chaos produces physical chaos or war, thus the state of war, the war of all against all. The reason this is because no one has any connection to the other, everyone has the right to everything, just to satisfy his or her appetites. There is no rational rule to resolve conflict, in order to get around this you have to get an agreement, thus the need for a social contact.

In both theories of human nature by Karl Marx and Thomas Hobbes respectfully, each provide their own perspective on the fundamental point of human nature. Marx makes the argument that that humans are inherently cooperative and the capitalist system creates a state of nature where humans are competitive. In opposition to Marx’ argument, Hobbes may say that humans are inherently competitive and the social contract is what makes humans cooperate within the capitalist system. In response, Marx might say that the social contract is redundant because the social contract has no effect on the competition that resembles the state of nature within the capitalist system.

Civilization is a word that cannot be used too loosely. How then, is civilization defined? It is difficult to define in one word or phrase because a complex society or “civilization” depends on many different aspects. There are characteristics of a civilization that are more essential than others, some of which may be more important to one group than to another. However, a definition for civilization can be narrowed down to a few fundamental aspects that are necessary for one to exist. For a complex society to exist, it must have means to provide for a growing population. Acquiring resources is vital for a civilization to flourish. Next, the earliest civilizations all seemed to

Early civilization consisted of core values that defined the communities that resided within it. These communities were driven by numerous factors in which would decide the overall outcome of the civilization. Geography, social and economic values, and they’re culture all played an important role in the makeup of these civilizations.

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes lays out the hypothetical principal of the state of nature, where human it-self is artificial. It is human nature that people will not be able to love permanently, everyone against everyone power between the strongest. In this nation-state you must be the strongest in order to survive (survival of the fittest). In order to survive there are laws we must follow, to insure of our security because of fear. We were able to suppress our fear, by creating order, to have more order; we must have security, so the social contract appeared.

Before modern technology, men would band together for the protection of their families. History has proven people group together for survival, whether that be warmth, food, or protection. The idea was that a group is stronger and more profitable than one person acting alone. Each tribe or gathering of individuals working together is considered a society. A society is nothing more than a group of people living together for a common purpose, or simply because it is more convenient. But, if all societies were thriving entities, then we would not know the hardships that have repeated throughout history, such as, poverty and famine. On the contrary, a society that works well is a society that works for the well-being of its individual members. A high functioning and successful society is built on a foundation of trust and equality and enforced by a governing body.