Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan

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Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan

Рет қаралды 24,122

3 жыл бұрын

An introduction to Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan. Hobbes looms over all of us as the preeminent defender of the modern state and sovereign authority. Nuanced and original, he is probably the most influential figure in modern political philosophy who, and could be described as the father of both modern liberalism and modern conservatism.
Hobbes’ originality was his belief that political theory could be deduced from scientific principles about psychology, the senses, language, morality, knowledge, and power.
To understand politics, he argued, you had to understand people. Hobbes grounds Leviathan in a state of nature - a theoretical situation in which humans have no institutions, no government, no coercive power - a pre-societal condition.
Human existence in a state of nature is, according to Hobbes, pretty undesirable. In the most famous passage of Leviathan he says that in a state of nature there are ‘no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.’
In a state of nature, we have a right to all things, but because we seek our own self-preservation, there are ‘laws of nature.’ Hobbes says that the first law of nature is ‘that every man seek peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek and use all helps and advantages of war.’
Because some ignore or misunderstand the laws of nature we require a sovereign power to keep us in awe; a leviathan.
Hobbes has been reinterpreted in the 20th century in game theory terms as a prisoner’s dilemma.
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Sources:
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Thomas Hull, Hobbes and the Making of Modern Political Thought
Glen Newey, The Routledge Guidebook to Hobbes’ Leviathan
Martinich Aloysius, Hobbes
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Пікірлер: 73

@simonrudduck8726 5 ай бұрын

I’m a recent patreon supporter. You really have been making great content for ages. I’m glad you also have stamina for it!

@pedrito01100 3 жыл бұрын

Omg, great comedic sense man, the part in the car was hilarious. And btw, awesome video on Hobbes. Your videos are just getting better and better.

@davodshah8869 3 жыл бұрын

Literally just looked over this when studying a level history today, thanks for the timely upload

@calebwachsmuth5597 3 жыл бұрын

Literally discussing Leviathan in my Philosophy class in 2 hrs lol very timely

@iamerror 3 жыл бұрын

Great video! I haven't studied Hobbes in years and this crash course did an excellent job refreshing my memory and putting it into context.

@zadig08 3 жыл бұрын

Love how this is edited! Thanks for the hard work and the awesome video.

@ironjose54 3 жыл бұрын

2:36 "bumping into one another" as he drives over a bumper

@ibrahimali489 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your faithful representation and explanation of Hobbes' theory. Too many unfortunately mislabel his reasonings.

@Viperzka 3 жыл бұрын

My thoughts, re: the state of nature and the hunter gatherer society, is that these societies are not a state of nature, they are a society. Hobbes premise that we need kings to impose order fell apart quickly but the idea that there must nge dinne form of social order with the capacity to coerce compliance is much more durable. Humans, having evolved as a social species, have never been in an actual "state of nature" and likely are incapable of maintaining one. Also, the hunter gatherer societies were small and limited in scope. They weren't able to defend themselves against outside aggression (which is closer to the mythical state of nature) and this we have no more of those societies.

@shodanxx 3 жыл бұрын

This is extremely salient to me, I don't know why but lately I've been having lots of discussions about this topic. I also randomly stayed listening to the audiobook origins of political order by Francis Fukuyama. He criticizes Hobbes, Rousseau and the other guys "state of nature" as wrongly individualistic as opposed to familial / band or tribal and provides as supporting evidence the social life of some monkey which share a common ancestor with humans in addition of archeological evidence that humans have never been in an individualist social order as the norm.

@CollectionLearning. 3 жыл бұрын

Congrats on 100k :)

@soup789100 3 жыл бұрын

Im about to start writing a paper on Leviathan here soon, video out just in time

@stephencarroll230 3 жыл бұрын

Arendt called Hobbes theory a “logical fantasy.” I think that is true. It’s a nice tidy philosophy, basically binary-“appetites and aversions”.

@BobBogaert 2 жыл бұрын

"When the smoke clears and you can see the sky again, there will be the chopped off heads of Leviathan."

@BlurNZ 2 жыл бұрын

Thing about Hobbes is that his state of nature isn't quite right. My awful opinion upsetting game theorists everywhere. Studies of hunter gatherer societies show friendliness was a key treasured trait, one Hobbes kinda undervalued. However, if you see Hobbes state of nature as being entangled within Locke's state of nature (an idea that would upset him, which only makes it more attractive) - specifically Locke's elements that break the system - that enough and as good is not available elsewhere, and that unjust (or any) stockpiling is being done by the few who have (and not shared out to those in need) - put those two failings in, put those to stresses on the system - that was Hobbes vision of an the state of nature, an awful world. in essence, Hobbes state of nature was of poverty, haves and have nots, and friendliness got stabbed for his horse. Its not a true or correct vision, but its one very compelling theory to externalize blame, justify zealotry, and commit injustice and intolerance upon out group communities. The guy gets too much air. Modern personalities photocopy him and Machiavelli far to often, we call them demagogues I think...

@Skepticallady 3 жыл бұрын

Great content and explanation of Hobbes and his social contract! Your channels is great, keep it up! Greetings from Costa Rica 😊

@jonfischer2203 3 жыл бұрын

Lol, I really enjoyed the intro driving bit. Good video as always!!

@Anika9691 Ай бұрын

Such a well made video. I loved it. Very underrated chamnel 😢

@janpodgornik353 3 жыл бұрын

Love this type of content! Feed us!

@danielfitzgerald2561 11 ай бұрын

Every time he says "In a state of nature" I just think of the scene from Darkest Hour where Churchill is in the bath dictating a speech to his secretary through the door and says "I'm coming out in a state of nature" before proceeding to walk out bollock naked.

@MourningTalkShow 3 жыл бұрын

“Fearful of our fundamental equality” is a nice nugget to chew on.

@panoptos4163 3 жыл бұрын

This is my favorite channel. In this particular video, as he was driving, I had a difficult time concentrating on what he was saying. I kept thinking: keep your eyes in the road. Blame it on the ADD.

@standowner6979 3 жыл бұрын

Yesterday, I was watching your videos on Foucault and you had 100K subscribers. Today you have 101K. That's impressive!

@mete3254 Жыл бұрын

i love this channel

@HoneyTouchConsultingLLC 9 ай бұрын

You make phenomenal videos. Keep up the great work!

@socialswine3656 2 жыл бұрын

This video feels like I’m in an Uber and the driver is wired on adderol and rambling about Hobbes

@Megaghost_ 3 жыл бұрын

I'll be waiting for the next one!

@Shaman42069 3 жыл бұрын

Very interesting. looking foward to the next one!

@ozlemdenli7763 2 жыл бұрын

came to this video via the one on rage. great content

@III-vg4dp 3 жыл бұрын

There is a huge chasm between reasoning philosophers and those who determine society.

@susanneeineigel4889 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you

@timquigley986 3 жыл бұрын

For some reason I havent watched your videos in a couple of months. Its ok though because now Im getting to binge on a bunch

@aaron2709 2 жыл бұрын

The dilemma of the prisoner is not that complex. If you are arrested by police, they are the enemy. That's it. Do not help them in any way. Any talk of 'other prisoners' is the police manipulating/attacking you. Saying "It's in your best interests to cooperate" is a fallacy. American police clearly state this when you're arrested, "Anything you say can and will be used against you."

@edwardbackman744 3 жыл бұрын

Commenting for the algorithm!!!! Excellent video i loved the traffic bit

@Bojoschannel 3 жыл бұрын

Was thinking about how cool it'd be if you did a Hobbes video and here it is lol. Always found him and his theory interesting even tho i haven't read him directly, mostly because of how influential it has been

@Matt-zp4oc Жыл бұрын

This is a little off topic but I have to ask. How many cameras do you have? The car scene had 3 different angles

@forbesbeckum4209 3 жыл бұрын

Think you’d benefit from a deep dive into Philip Pettit’s work on Hobbes in Made With Words as it pertains to Hobbes view son language/the mind and how it relates to his politics !

@AlbertaGengar 3 жыл бұрын

Love the video

@ckn3481 3 жыл бұрын

Silver button reveal when? We need all the “youtube” hyype and celebratory loud music - joke aside, congratulations for reaching a following of 100k subscribers

@a.r.c8021 3 жыл бұрын

Cant believe it’s 100k and not 1mil!

@NathanDudani 3 жыл бұрын

@@a.r.c8021 not having more with such great content means his content has been worthy enough to be subverted by KZfaq

@ndjubilant8391 3 жыл бұрын

Great video, thanks

@CanadianRevolution27 3 жыл бұрын

Great content as always.

@dickgoblin 3 жыл бұрын

@e.j.d.1991 3 жыл бұрын

the state of nature is real, and thats how culture and language comes to save us

@Novalarke 3 жыл бұрын

no it's not. It's a fantasy invented by civilisation.

@raghavmangalapalli3547 3 жыл бұрын

he bacc

@GoodlyDragon-gt6hu 9 ай бұрын

Hunter-gatherers have the Leviathan too. Social ostracism meant death. Reputation as being trustworthy mattered. They generally don't extend the rules of morality beyond the in-group. Much of this has carried over into the daily life of civilization in formerly hunter-gatherer parts of the world: the mentality of steal from the world (including thefts of things like public cleanliness with litter) and give to your family is strong. If you've ever been to Latin America you can see that the people generally have no hang ups about littering. In Paraguay it's endemic. They don't litter in the houses of their friends and relatives though.

@GoodlyDragon-gt6hu 9 ай бұрын

If you walk in an area that's free of litter in this world, the people probably had the will of the Leviathan genetically encoded due to their would-be ancestors being executed for petty sheep theft before they could breed and become your ancestor.

@Sissyphussy 3 жыл бұрын

Every time you took your eyes off the road my anxiety 📈

@sk8p0nk 3 жыл бұрын

This is just my opinion but I think you look way better without the beard.😋

@Rico-Suave_ 11 ай бұрын

Watched all of it 17:59

@smooa1889 3 жыл бұрын

1:50 wheres the door handle on the other side????

@johnarbuckle2619 3 жыл бұрын

I'm currently looking into the English civil war (the historical event that influenced Hobbes' political theories), so this is a very well timed essay. P.S. If you are interested in the impact that Hobbes' leviathan had on English society/politics then I recommend that you read a book called "Taming The Leviathan".