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"LEVIATHAN" (THOMAS HOBBES).
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Examines philosopher's War Argument & inapplicability of God & religion to his political analysis.... More...

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Paper Abstract:
Examines philosopher's War Argument & inapplicability of God & religion to his political analysis.

Paper Introduction:
Thomas Hobbes's method and aims in civil philosophy in general, and in Leviathan in particular, lead him to leave the "seeds of religion" out of the War Argument because to include those seeds of religion would be counter-productive to his method and aims. Hobbes's method is based on science, logic, reason, materialism, and empirical observation, none of which is useful in analyzing God or religion. For Hobbes to include the intangibles and mysteries of religion and God in his rational analysis of human nature and politics would have been to poison the entire project with uncertainty. Hobbes's aim is to construct a philosophy, built on what he hopes are the air-tight bricks of reason and mathematical logic, which convinces human beings that they should immediately form a

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One would not beable to trust the validity or authority of such laws. Therefore, looking back on this half-reasoned, half-speculatedstate of nature, Hobbes blamed its turbulence on the lack of such aLeviathan: Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man. The warring people need a powerful force who will tell them what to doand give them peace--a god-like presence and power. Princeton, NJ:Princeton U P, 1986.----------------------- 1 . Clearly, to introduce religion or God into the equation, especiallyat the beginning in the state of nature and constant war, will be tointroduce a force which threatens the Leviathan, and anything whichthreatens the Leviathan threatens Hobbes's entire political philosophy. . . actuall fighting; but in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary (Hobbes 185-186). Hobbes looked around at the turbulence of his own time and place,peered into the likely nature behind and causing that turbulence, and founda state of nature of constant war. and then confesse their definition to be unintelligible (Hobbes 171). While this appears to be true, and appears to be deliberate on thepart of Hobbes, as Kavka writes, the fact remains that Hobbes does havemuch to say about God and religion in the state of nature Leviathan. In such a state, a God whose nature is unknowable, who does not seemto be physically present, and who is certainly not barking orders orwriting laws telling the people what to do so that war will end and peacewill begin, is a God who is not worth much, at least in Hobbes's scheme.Standing in stark contrast to this mysterious God is the Leviathan, whoasks only that the people give up their natural rights to him and he inturn will create for them a life of peace, free of war or the fear of war. Hobbes's method is based on science, logic, reason, materialism, andempirical observation, none of which is useful in analyzing God orreligion. This method "involves understanding a system bybreaking it down--in thought--into its basic constituent elements" (Kavka19). Of course, Hobbes finds what he is looking for, just as John Locke,seeking a state of nature more reflective of his greater optimism, foundit. . The Leviathan cannot be challenged, realistically, in Hobbes'sscheme, by some indefinite and intangible force, because the Leviathan ispresent, is powerful, is standing before the people and putting them in astate of awe, obedience, and peace. . The unevolved humans in the state ofnature would have been incapable of sorting out these conflicting views ofreality and would have been thrown even more deeply into the state of war.Again, Hobbes makes clear that the state of war is not necessarily armedconflict, but is in fact usually a simple lack of certainty about peace.Therefore, the simple fear of danger is as much a sign of the state of waras an actual outbreak of physical violence. They will not return to a state of war debating his nature orreality. Thomas Hobbes's method and aims in civil philosophy in general, andin Leviathan in particular, lead him to leave the "seeds of religion" outof the War Argument because to include those seeds of religion would becounter-productive to his method and aims. . . Returning to the resolutive-compositive method used by Hobbes, onefinds Hobbes's concept of the state relatively simple now. Even if Hobbes had introduced the seeds of religion into the WarArgument, those seeds would have engendered greater conflict than alreadyexisted. The happiness which this earthly god will bring stands in contrast tothe war of the state of nature. For Warre, consisteth not in . New York: Penguin, 1974.Kavka, Gregory S. can have no idea of him in our minds since he is infinite (Kavka 362). After declaring that the "first seeds, orprinciples" of religion "are only an opinion of a Deity," Hobbes goes on toimply that the religion of a God is not necessary because the religion ofthe Leviathan is already present and much more tangible and useful to menwho seek not an indefinite something in the heavens but a powerful rulerstanding before them telling them what to do and what not to do: For seeing all formed Religion, is founded at first, upon the faith which a multitude hath in some one person, whom they believe not only to be a wise man, and to labour to procure their happiness, but also to be a holy man, to whom God himselfe vouchsafeth to declare his will supernaturally (Hobbes 179). In addition, Hobbes would have had to deal with the inevitablerivalry between God and the Leviathan. This is the Leviathan.God will come later in Hobbes's ideal state, once the Leviathan is firmlyestablished and the people are taught that they must and shall obey him ineach and every situation. Indeed, Kavka writes that Hobbes's failure to assign a definite roleto God in forming the laws of nature (laws which step-by-step lead out ofwar and toward the Leviathan) is not "accidental." Instead, it is a necessary consequence of certain doctrines of Hobbes's "philosophical theology": that we lack knowledge of God [and] . There is no question in the minds ofthe people with respect to the definition or reality or omnipotence of thisLeviathan. . Afterall, Hobbes in writing Leviathan was trying to show how peace could be wononly when all citizens in a society had given up their rights to theSovereign, who was himself a god of sorts, certainly a more tangible deitythan the God of religions. Thesedivisions were precisely what Hobbes was trying to avoid in designing hisideal state from the bottom up, that is, from the dissolved state, thestate of nature and constant war, up to the Leviathan-run state ofobedience and order and peace. Thecloser one looks at what he says, however, the increasingly insubstantialit becomes: . Atthe very least, he would have opened up endless theological debate ascitizens divided up along lines of religious dogma and factionalism. For Hobbes to throw religion and Godinto the very beginning of the project would have led to the very problemshe was trying to avoid by conjuring the project in the first place. In particular, God plays no rolein the derivation of the actual contents of the laws of nature" (Kavka362). . Kavka explains in Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory,Hobbes uses the resolutive-compositive method of investigation and analysisin trying to devise a vision of human nature and politics which willsupport his Leviathan. Of course, in large part, the power the Leviathan will have gatheredunto itself will have been given to it willingly by people who want to livein peace in the shadow of that power. There cannot be two gods which will vie forthe obedience of the people in return for the ending of war through theactions of those gods. If there is a God who plays any part in thegovernance of the state, or who somehow judges or guides the Leviathan, theviews and actions of that God are important and relevant only to theLeviathan, and are of no significance to the people whose business is onlyto blindly obey the Leviathan. Hobbes carefully sets up a scenario whose basic problem can be solvedwith one solution and one solution alone--the Leviathan. In addition, at each early point in Hobbes's suggestion of theLeviathan to come, he uses words (such as "awe") which suggest religion andworship and godliness. to confesse he is Incomprehensible, and above their understanding . For Hobbes to include the intangibles and mysteries of religionand God in his rational analysis of human nature and politics would havebeen to poison the entire project with uncertainty. . Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory. . . Hobbes wanted above all to justify establishing a Leviathan who wouldhave such power that he could and would crush all threats to the peace ofthe state. Hobbes sees thestate of nature as the state in its most dissolved condition--a state ofwar. Clearly, the laws of nature cannot be grounded in something which onecannot know, because then one is admitting that one does not truly know thelaws of nature which emerged from an unknowable source. However, religion, based on definitions of God which cannot beverified or observed, brings with it great debate, great difference anddivision, great conflict and war as people of apparently contradictoryreligions try to force their beliefs on one another. Especially tellingis the word "awe" in the previous excerpt from Hobbes description of theproper attitude of the people in response to the all-powerful Leviathan.Only an entity with awe-inspiring power will be able to keep the people inline. Kavka declares outright that "God plays no substantive role inHobbes's moral and political philosophy. arrive to the acknowledgement of one Infinite, Omnipotent, and Eternall God, choose . men that . By introducing God or religion into the recipe,Hobbes would have effectively posited an opposing God to his Sovereign. Works CitedHobbes, Thomas. Hobbes's aim is to construct a philosophy, built on what he hopes arethe air-tight bricks of reason and mathematical logic, which convinceshuman beings that they should immediately form a state in which they givetheir rights and their lives over to an all-powerful Leviathan forevermorein order that they may be protected from the return of the state of natureand the constant war of that state. As Gregory S. Leviathan.

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