On Civil & Natural Law | Legendary Hobbes Quote

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English philosopher Thomas Hobbes talks about how the Laws of Nature are the unwritten form of what becomes Civil Laws. Natural Laws are qualities which dispose man to peacefulness. But, what is Just and Right only become properly Laws once a common-wealth of humans is established. The ultimate goal of Laws are to limit the natural proclivities of individual people for the common good of all peoples and the defense against enemies.

“The Law of Nature, and the Civill Law, contain each other, and are of equall extent. For the Lawes of Nature, which consist in Equity, Justice, Gratitude, and other morall Vertues on these depending, in the condition of meer Nature are not Properly Lawes, but qualities that dispose men to peace, and to obedience. When a Common-wealth is once settled, then are they actually Lawes, and not before; as being then the commands of the Common-wealth; and therefore also Civill Lawes: For it is the Soveraign Power that obliges men to obey them. For in the differences of private men, to declare, what is Equity, what is Justice, and what is morall Vertue, and to make them binding, there is need of the Ordinances of Soveraign Power, and Punishments to be ordained for such as shall break them; which Ordinances are therefore part of the Civill Law. The Law of Nature therefore is a part of the Civill Law in all Common-wealths of the world. Reciprocally also, the Civill Law is a part of the Dictates of Nature. For Justice, that is to say, Performance of Covenent, and giving to every man his own, is a Dictate of the Law of Nature. But every subject in a Common-wealth, hath covenanted to obey the Civill Law. And therefore Obedience to the Civill Law is part also of the Law of Nature. Civill, and Naturall Law are not different kinds, but different parts of Law; whereof one part being written, is called Civill, the other unwritten, Naturall. But the Right of Nature, that is, the naturall Liberty of man, may be the Civill Law be abridged, & restrained: nay, the end of making Lawes, is no other, but such Restraint; without the which there cannot possibly be any Peace.

And Law was brought into the world for nothing else but to limit the naturall liberty of particular men, in such manner, as they might not hurt, but assist one another, and joyn together against a common enemy.”

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. (314-315)

Citations:

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. Buy here!

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The Sovereign Power is Never Unjust | Legendary Hobbes Quote

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English philosopher Thomas Hobbes was famously known for his authoritarian philosophy that praised the rights of Absolute Monarchs. Hobbes seems to suggest that Laws, despite limiting the freedoms of individual people, is ultimately for their own Good. Laws are only lawful if they can be enforced by a Sovereign. Hobbes says that nothing a Sovereign does can properly be called an injustice. Furthermore, any liberties individuals do have only exist because the Sovereign chooses to ignore such excesses.

“If we take Liberty, for an exemption from Lawes, it is absurd, for men to demand as they doe, that Liberty, by which all other men may be masters of their lives. And yet as absurd as it is, this is it they demand; not know that the Lawes are of no power to protect them, without a Sword in the hands of a man, or men, to cause those laws to be put in execution. The Liberty of a Subject, lyeth therefore only in those things, which in regulating their actions, the Soveraign hath praetermitted… The Soveraign Power of life, and death, is never abolished, or limited. For it has been already shewn, that nothing the Soveraign Representative can doe to a Subject, on what pretense soever, can properly be called Injustice, or Injury; because every Subject is Author of every act the Soveraign doth.”

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. (264-265)

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War of Every Man Against Every Man | Legendary Hobbes Quote

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For English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, prior to societies, humanity existed in a state of nature. In such a state, value judgments are meaningless. Hobbes states that such values as Justice, Injustice, Right, & Wrong only exist within society. These values are human creations made not in solitude but only in relation with other humans. Furthermore, the enforcement of these values as valuable can only occur through force and the fear of death.

“To this warre of every man against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be Unjust. The notions of Right & Wrong, Justice and Injustice have there no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law, where no law, no injustice. Force, and fraud, are in war the two cardinal virtues. Justice, and Injustice are none of the Faculties neither of the Body, nor Mind. If they were, they might be in man alone in the world, as well as his Senses, and Passions. They are Qualities, that relate to men in Society, not in Solitude. It is consequent also to the same condition, that there be no Propriety, no Dominion, no Mine & Thine distinct; but onely that to be every mans that he can get; and for so long, as he can keep it. And this much for the ill condition, which man by meer Nature is actually placed in; though with a possibility to come out of it, consisting partly in the Passions, partly in His Reason. The Passions that encline men to Peace, are Feare of Death; Desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living; and a Hope by their Industry to obtain them. And Reason suggesteth convenient Articles of Peace, upon which men may be drawn to agreement. These Articles, are they, which otherwise are called the Lawes of Nature.

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (188)

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Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. Buy here!

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A Complete History of Nihilism

Nihilism comes from the Latin word nihil, meaning, nothing. Nihilism is typically defined as a belief in nothing. Depending on a person’s flavor of nihilism, nihilists don’t believe in objective morality, no good or evil. There is no objective knowledge, no truths and no falsehoods. There is no reason to even exist, because we are all going to be dead in the end. The universe is, and beyond that nothing: no order, no structure, no design, no purpose.

Arguably the best thinker on nihilism was 19th century German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche, a miserably cantankorous individual, whose life was burdened by excruciating stomach and migraine pain, and who died in a madhouse unable to feed himself, said there were many different stages to nihilism, but all of them relied on a willing towards nothing.

NIHILISM

Citations:

Hegel Georg Wilhelm. The Science of Logic. Cambridge University Press, 2010. Buy here!

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs. Buy here!

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None. Buy here!

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. Buy here!

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. Twilight of the Idols and the Anti-Christ. Buy here!

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. On the Genealogy of Morality: A Polemic. Buy here!

Plato. Phaedrus. Plato Complete Works. 247c-e. Buy here!

Heidegger, Martin. “‘The Word of Nietzsche: God Is Dead.’” The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2013. Buy here!

Rohlf, Michael. “Immanuel Kant.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 28 July 2020.

Hughes, Peter. “Nietzsche & Nihilism.” Ethical Society. 22 Nov. 2009.


Deleuze, Gilles. Nietzsche and Philosophy. Buy here!

Ceika, Jonas. How to Philosophize with a Hammer and Sickle: Nietzsche and Marx for the 21st-Century Left. Watkins Publishing, 2022. Buy here!

Fincher, David, director. Fight Club. 20th Century Fox, 1999. Buy here!

Liv Agar: WallStreetBets, Gamestop, & Nietzsche’s Account of Nihilism.

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Was It God’s Fault? | Darrell Brooks & the Problem of Evil

God touching Darrell Brooks

The Waukesha Parade attacker, Darrell Brooks, blamed the Christian God for his actions on November 21st, 2021, when he murdered 6 people and injured over 60 others. This is the problem of evil in philosophy of religion. Why would a deity which is both omnipotent & omniscient allow for evil to exist? As Epicurus famously said:

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but unable? Then He is impotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able & willing? Whence then is evil?”

Citations:

Hume, David. Dialogues & Natural History of Religion. Buy here!

Leibniz, Gottfried. Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man, and the Origin of Evil. Buy here!

Pojman, Louis P., and Michael C. Rea, editors. Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology. Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008. Buy here!

TRANSCRIPT

PHILOSOPHY


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