Essay about The Human Being and Living the Good Life

Major aspects to Hobbes’s image of human nature firstly entails what is motivating human beings to act and secondly is the human powers of judgment and reasoning. Hobbes believes that human judgment is unreliable as it tends to be differentiated by self-interest, as well as through the pleasure and pains of the scenario (Hobbes). Hobbes believed that men are greatly concerned with what others portray about them, or they are inflamed by religious doctrine or carried away by others’ inflammatory words. He claims that we are supposed to tackle what it pertains in our interest to do, as

With these natural causes of quarrel, Hobbes concludes that the natural condition of humans is a state of perpetual war of all against all, where no morality exists, and everyone lives in constant fear (p.45). He believes that humans have three motivations for ending this state of war: the fear of death, the desire to have an adequate living and the hope to attain this through one’s labor (p.47). These beliefs become valid because of the use of his examples. One example suggests that people are barbaric to each other. With the absence of international law, strong countries prey on the weakness of weak countries. I believe that his views of moral behavior are very true. Like Hobbes said, people are out for their well-being. If I were to do a favor for someone, I may think I am helping someone out, which I am, but I am probably doing the favor because it is going to make me feel better. It is going to benefit my well being. Hobbes is a famous philosopher whose views were very controversial. But the fact that he lived in a time when the monarchy was the “divine right of kings” (p.42), makes his views valid today. With a different government and new laws, his views appear to be true.

Hobbes believed that people each have their own ideas of right and wrong, and that there is no way to tell if a person’s version of right and wrong is universally right or wrong. Practically, that each person will create their own rationalization and will even kill another person for physical safety or securing

Hobbes chose to examine the political society and broke it down to its basic parts of individual men. He understood the nature of man and thus was able to further examine the forces that drive humanity and came to understand the real role of politics in our lives rather than the role predetermined by the elite, who dictate what is good for man. Hobbes sought to answer an overall question what can be said about the overall nature of man?

Augustine also emphasizes knowing happiness in eternal things rather than in what is grounded in phsycial senses, or the corporeal. This is illustrated through his encounter with a drunken beggar in Confessions: “For what he had gained with a few coins...that is the cheerfulness of temporal felicity (Augustine 97).” The wine will run out; that euphoric drunkenness will eventually die and he will again be unhappy. The importance of humility is also a factor in his encounter: “True joy he had not, but my quest to fulfill my ambitions was much falser...He had acquired wine by wishing good luck to passers-by, whereas I sought an arrogant success by telling lies (98).” He realizes the beggar is not truly happy, however views the beggar’s state as even superior to his own in that the beggar is not living in perpetual anxiety. This idea of humility becomes most important to Augustine’s philosophy of happiness. Happiness, he asserts, is knowing God the creator, something independent of the corporeal. Both Augustine and the

The concept of living “the good life” means something different for everyone. There is a general understanding that living “the good life” is associated with unyielding happiness and lasting satisfaction. The exact meaning of this desired life was pondered by thinkers and philosophers for hundreds of years. They constructed principals of behavior, thought, and obligation that would categorize a person as “good”. Although some of these ancient philosophies about “the good life” had overlapping ideas, their concepts varied widely. This contrast of ideas can be examined through two major characters in two famous works: Aeneas in “The Aeneid” and Socrates in “The Apology”. Aeneas exemplifies the philosophy that the direct route to “the good life" is through faith, trust in the Gods, and family, while Socrates in “The Apology” emphasizes free will, and vast knowledge of life.

Thomas Hobbes describes his views on human nature and his ideal government in Leviathan. He believes human nature is antagonistic, and condemns man to a life of violence and misery without strong government. In contrast to animals, who are able to live together in a society without a coercive power, Hobbes believes that men are unable to coexist peacefully without a greater authority because they are confrontational by nature. “In the nature of man”, Hobbes says “there are three principal causes of quarrel: first, competition; secondly, diffidence, thirdly, glory” and then he goes on to list man’s primary aims for each being gain, safety and reputation (Hobbes, Leviathan, 13, 6).

Hobbes emphasizes the concept of human nature. He explains that there are both negative and positive natures. People crave power and wealth by nature; but, if people are free to act on these desires, a state can never acquire the protection necessary for peace. Peace, is a positive nature that encourages social contracts. These contracts will inevitably be breached if a government enables its citizens to act on their negative desires.

Hobbes felt humans can selfishly seek power over the needs of others for their own personal needs and that life is poor, solitary, and short without law and order. Other philosophers disagreed with the Hobbes and felt that humans can be altruistic and look out for the needs of others over their own. Sometimes humans are selfish, but this is not always the case. Hobbes felt that humans were motivated by the fear of death, and they act accordingly. Hobbes felt that humans are motivated to act in a way, which relieves them from discomfort and satisfies their own physical needs. Hobbes states that humans only act in their own self-preservation without regard to others. Therefore, according to Hobbes humans are motivated by greed and protecting themselves from death and unpleasant stimulus other the needs of others. Due to this problem of people not being able to control their instincts, they need to someone to control and guide their instincts so that it benefits all of man. Hobbes believed that people are selfish and this can only be overcome by one ruler with the support of the commonwealth, or in other words the support of the entire population as a

According to Hobbes the state of nature leads to a war of all against all. What Hobbes refers to when he discusses the state of nature is a state in which there are no civil powers. To reach his conclusion about how the world would be in the state of nature, Hobbes first explains what human nature is and then explains the relationship between man and civil government.

In order to analyze Hobbes’s work of moral and political philosophy, one must first understand his view of human nature. Hobbes’s was greatly influenced by the scientific revolution of the early 17th century, and by the civil unrest and civil war in England while he wrote. Hobbes views the nature of man as being governed by the same laws of nature described by Galileo and refined by Newton .He writes in Leviathan “And as we see in the water, though the wind cease, the waves give not over rowling (rolling) for a long time after; so also it happeneth in that mation, which is made in the internall parts of a man” . From this, he concludes that man is in a constant state of motion. Being at rest is not the natural state of man, but rather a rarity.

He saw human nature was to be tamed by politics, not exercised. According to Aristotle, The nature of human was to be completed and flourished through community and politics (SEP, 2002). In contrast, Hobbes claims that the state of human nature was war. In his book of Leviathan, he states, “…there is no way for any man to secure himselfe, so reason-able, as Anticipation; that is, by force…till he see no other power great enough to endanger him…” (Leviathan, XIII). Since we cannot reach agreement over what is right and wrong, it is rational to think that we have no choice but to attack other people and that is the state of nature.

Hobbes believed that in nature people had to do whatever was necessary to survive and that even if living together, people were still likely to fight. His view of people was dark and most likely due to the horrors of a series of political schemes and armed conflicts he had seen during the English Civil War. He believed that a contract was necessary. Hobbes felt that people were not capable of living in a democratic society. Instead, a single dominant ruler was needed, and if everyone did their part, then the community would function smoothly. Hobbes’ theory is unlike Locke and Rousseau’s. He believed that once the people gave power to the government, the people gave up the right to that power. It would essentially be the cost of the safety the people were seeking.

In today’s world, humans are often misled on what really is a good life. We are constantly shown through the television and magazines that being rich and famous is the way to go when it comes to a good life, when in truth many of them are miserable by problems that usually wouldn’t affect the common person. In truth there are only a few that are rich and famous and do achieve what can probably considered one of the greatest achievement’s by a man which is having a good life. In my opinion, the decision if someone has a good life or not is up to them and their will to strive for something better than average during the high school years of their life. The reason I feel like it begins at that age in their life is

Hobbes believes that in the state of nature, humans have no laws, morals, police force, property, government, culture, knowledge, or durable infrastructure. Within this state of nature, people have no morals and do as they please without any consequence. As