Notes on Ball & Dagger reader
Selections from Thomas Hobbes (1651)
Leviathan
"The State of Nature and the Basis of Obligation"

In reading this selection, pay attention to the following:

• What does Hobbes envision as the "state of nature", that is, the condition of human beings without government?
• What is the basis of the social contract?
• Given the reason stated that people form social contracts, what is government obligated to do in order to retain the allegiance of its citizens?  Or, to put it in reverse, when are citizens allowed to revolt on the grounds that the government has failed to fulfill its half of the bargain?

Lecture notes:

[On board:  classical liberalism;  modernity;  justification & guidance;  state of nature;  social contract / consent;  rebellion;  the priority of the individual]

Quiz?  [Remind that "didn't read" = half credit]

Starting classical liberalism.  Stage 5;  law-creating perspective

Modernity, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and the loss of religion as a foundation for government.  Rise of business.  English history of religious division.

Hobbes b. 1588, during the invasion of the Spanish Armada.

The need for justification and guidance.

In order to justify government, we have to ask about its alternative, the "state of nature":  what does human life look like without government?  "Nasty, brutish, and short"

The social contract:  consent as the foundation of government.

The right of rebellion as a consequence of the social contract.

The priority of individuals over their (collective) creation, government.  [We will deal with this when we read Locke on toleration.]

Potential quiz questions:

• What does Hobbes see as the condition of human beings without (or prior to) government?

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