Thomas Hobbes in Civil Philosophy

At the very least, he would have opened up endless theological reckon as citizens divided up along lines of religious article of belief and factionalism. These divisions were precisely what Hobbes was trying to avoid in designing his holy person call forth from the bottom up, that is, from the dissolved secernate, the relegate of temper and unalterable state of war, up to the Leviathan-run res publica of obedience and order and peace.

As Gregory S. Kavka explains in Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory, Hobbes uses the resolutive-compositive method of investigation and analysis in trying to devise a vision of human spirit and politics which will support his Leviathan. This method "involves understanding a system by breaking it down--in thought--into its basic constituent elements" (Kavka 19). Of course, Hobbes finds what he is looking for, just as John Locke, seeking a state of nature more reflective of his greater optimism, form it. Hobbes looked around at the turbulence of his own time and place, peered into the apt(predicate) nature behind and causing that turbulence, and found a state of nature of constant war.

Hobbes wanted above all to justify establishing a Leviathan who would have such power that he could and would ticktack all threats to the peace of the state. Therefore, looking back on this half-reasoned, half-speculated state of nature, Hobbes blamed its turbulence on the lack of such a Leviathan:

Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a com

The Leviathan cannot be challenged, realistically, in Hobbes's scheme, by both(prenominal) indefinite and intangible force, because the Leviathan is present, is powerful, is standing before the people and displace them in a state of awe, obedience, and peace. There is no read/write head in the minds of the people with respect to the definition or pragmatism or omnipotence of this Leviathan. They will not return to a state of war debating his nature or humankind.

However, religion, based on definitions of immortal which cannot be verified or observed, brings with it great debate, great remainder and division, great struggle and war as people of ostensibly contradictory religions try to force their beliefs on one another.

Indeed, Kavka writes that Hobbes's sorrow to assign a definite role to God in forming the laws of nature (laws which step-by-step lead out of war and toward the Leviathan) is not "accidental." Instead,

Even if Hobbes had introduced the seeds of religion into the War Argument, those seeds would have engendered greater conflict than already existed. In addition, Hobbes would have had to deal with the inevitable competition between God and the Leviathan. The unevolved humans in the state of nature would have been incapable of sorting out these conflicting views of reality 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 arm conflict, but is in fact usually a open lack of certainty about peace. Therefore, the simple fear of jeopardy is as much a sign of the state of war as an actual outbreak of physical violence.

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