PHIL 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Civil Society

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1010
• Professor: John Hacker- Wright

Document Summary

Moderns cannot accept aristotle"s idea that a community only exists when people come together to further a common idea of living well. Human beings, in moderns views, they have natural lives independent of their community to which they join after their individuality. We are machines in motion: complex response to stimuli attempting to fulfill natural appetites. Most fundamental appetite: staying alive (staying in motion) and avoid what would bring death. Men are at war with each other (no man has total superiority over another in terms of conflicts) We all need the same basic things to survive. For that to be rational, others must do the same. Provided the state can guarantee security, we must obey the authority that provides it (natural law: given by reason) We must disobey authority when it threatens our life (sentencing us to death or become too weak to provide security) Hobbes: psychological egoist- basic motives of humans are fundamentally selfish.