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1. Why does Hobbes believe that political revolution and rebellion are always unjustified? Describe how this belief relates to Hobbes account of the state of nature and the creation of a commonwealth. Is Hobbess position plausible?

Thomas Hobbes State of Nature

continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. (Leviathan, xiii, 9) Thomas Hobbes did indeed have a grim view on a world void of a social structure and a commonwealth sovereign. The thought experiment Hobbes refers too is called the state of nature. It is defined as a complete breakdown of the rules that govern and of civil society. A society where on has the natural right to do as they please in a bid to preserve their own life. Where there are no moral standards and no one to uphold or judge morality.
Hobbes view, man was needy and vulnerable, encompassed weak morals and easily lead astray. Despite the fact that he did believe that we had the ability to reason, he countered this with a belief that stated, people were not guided by reason but rather they are governed by ancient instincts. Hobbes term for such instincts was endeavors (Denise, White, & Peterfreund, 2008). He described these endeavors as functions, a likened to that of a machine. In his view human reaction was nothing but a method on survival, separate from recognition of good and evil. Such instincts are used at a barest of forms to protect ones life. Due to one having certain needs and one being a rational man we will have no constraints in morality regarding the achievement of such desires.

The only way Hobbes believes we can exit such an unsavory way of life is to form what he calls a covenant with other, self-interested citizens, who know that their best chance of survival is to abide by the laws of nature. The 3 laws of nature are: seek peace whenever there is hope of peace. Be prepared to give up certain freedoms for the sake of peace. The third is to abide by our agreements. By agreeing to these terms laid down by the covenant you form a commonwealth, a state in which people abandon certain freedoms to a sovereign authority. This authority has the right to apply a penalty to anyone who attempts to break their contract to the commonwealth. It is in the Leviathan where Hobbes defines the human body as a sort of machine and governing parties should be considered an artificial being. It is described as a head making certain decisions and the body simply follows. As Hobbes sees it we are to give up personal freedoms for the benefit of self preservation.

This is the basis of why Hobbes believed that political revolution and rebellion is always unjustifiable. If you are to question the sovereign authority you are breaking the laws set when you entered the commonwealth. It is understood

that when entering the commonwealth that you will sacrifice certain freedoms to a governing body so no attempts can be made on regaining those freedoms.

But what does the formation of a commonwealth mean for the governing body? As a sovereign authority take a position to lead the commonwealth they must represent what the majority of the commonwealth holds morally and virtuously sound. This is however not the case with many of the worlds governments. With many issues ranging form war to political intervention the sovereign authorities in our commonwealth constantly break the laws of nature, as described by Hobbes and do so due to the nature of there own being. In order to govern you must exercise sovereign authority, but to be truly sovereign by definition there must be no competition. It is the competition that is the bases of many political structures. There are other problems as well. The sovereign authoritys that govern today also engage in war. The first law of nature is to seek peace whenever there is hope for peace. There is also the issue of taxation. By definition tax is a theft on ones assets by the governing body. The only way a sovereign commonwealth can maintain power and control is to make the acceptance of it mandatory, if not, individuals have a choice to be part of the commonwealth or not. The very fact that we have no choice on whether or not we choose to be part of the commonwealth makes that state illegitimate as it breaches the rights of the citizens it governs. Hobbes view on human nature is far too bleak. If one were to be a self-concerned being then, even in the state of nature, surely it would still be in ones best interest to for alliances with surrounding threats. To paint every possible interaction between people in such broad strokes is incorrect. For example consider the raising of a child. If humans are indeed greedy and self-interested then how is it possible for a young child, who if considered in a state of nature, is indeed a burden to the parents then how is a mother willing to nurse a infant? Hobbes view on our need to enter a governed society is fundamentally floored as it underestimates the power of humans ability to care for one another knowing that it is easier to offer a service, perhaps in the form of aid then to simple kill everyone.