Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: On Human Nature, Know Thyself
25 Sep 2016
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State - human communities which claim a monopoly of legitimate violence in a given area. Life without the state according to hobbes - we are political by convention. The state is a collection of the society, the sovereign is the people. The worst scenario would be living without *state* protection. State must be powerful and absolete in order to avoid disastrous conflict. The justification for these claims is his idea of human nature. Know thyself: identify own desires, hopes, fears. Life is constant motion unless there is an action to stop. He believes we are bodies in constant motion. Power - one"s present means to obtain some future, apparent good. Also competitive because we cannot get beyond desire. Equally vulnerable, equally able (no one is untouchable) Scarcity - no incentive to produce anything. Uncertainty - everyone is a potential threat. War consists of not only battle but you are never sure when it will occur.
