Three Reasons for Being Hobbesian Today
Why are so many people Hobbesian in thought and practice? Why, even in a democratic republic like the United States today, are so many people so willing to give power to leaders who promise to protect them from their enemies and make them safe and strong? To protect them, say, from criminal Mexican immigrants or Muslim terrorists disguised as asylum-seekers?
I find understandable two reasons, even if in the end I would reject those reasons for stronger ones against the Hobbesian stance.
The first reason is that, from the standpoint of Hobbesian social contract theory, a situation of lawlessness is dangerous and violent. In such an amoral environment, our lives become brutish and nasty. Security and peace in civil society are possible by signing a contract that gives the State power to enforce the law.
This may underlie the statements of people who say that illegal immigrants deserve to be detained and deported, no questions asked, because they broke the law. As an emboldened officer of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently declared to the New York Times: “What part of 'illegal' do people not understand?” Patriotic citizens often say the same thing. For them, there is no appeal to social justice, compassion, or charity. What matters is to enforce the law because any weakness in the State will lead to the dissolution of civil order. The rule of law is most important and must be enforced with an iron fist.
The second reason is that, for Hobbesians, the State exists for two specific and explicit purposes: to secure internal peace among the subjects or citizens of the Commonwealth who have signed the social contract, and to guarantee defense against foreign enemies. Accordingly, what is most important is to give resources and power to the State for internal policing and law enforcement and for military defense against enemies. Any foreign State or group is an actual or potential enemy. From this standpoint, it makes sense to inflate defense budgets, military spending, and to hire 15,000 new ICE officers. All those officers, soldiers, and weapons will keep us safe, and that is what the State must do.
I also grasp, but by no means find defensible, a third reason to be Hobbesian when it comes to the powerful State defending us against “criminal Mexican illegals” and “Muslim terrorists disguised as asylum-seekers.” Thomas Hobbes argues that human beings are essentially egoistic. Our most fundamental passions are fear and the desire for our own safety and security, no matter what happens to others. I suspect that, deep down in their hearts, many people who want to get rid of “illegals” and “dangerous asylum-seekers” are disguising their own selfish and petty fears as “respect for the law” and “patriotic defense of the Fatherland.” It would be more honest to admit to their egoism and fear. That would be Hobbesian enough.
One of the most common excuses is more hypocritical: “First we take care of our own.” That sounds as if they are taking care of someone, when they are taking care of no one or nothing but themselves and their own interests. In that case, they are Hobbesian but pretend not to be.
I find understandable two reasons, even if in the end I would reject those reasons for stronger ones against the Hobbesian stance.
The first reason is that, from the standpoint of Hobbesian social contract theory, a situation of lawlessness is dangerous and violent. In such an amoral environment, our lives become brutish and nasty. Security and peace in civil society are possible by signing a contract that gives the State power to enforce the law.
This may underlie the statements of people who say that illegal immigrants deserve to be detained and deported, no questions asked, because they broke the law. As an emboldened officer of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently declared to the New York Times: “What part of 'illegal' do people not understand?” Patriotic citizens often say the same thing. For them, there is no appeal to social justice, compassion, or charity. What matters is to enforce the law because any weakness in the State will lead to the dissolution of civil order. The rule of law is most important and must be enforced with an iron fist.
The second reason is that, for Hobbesians, the State exists for two specific and explicit purposes: to secure internal peace among the subjects or citizens of the Commonwealth who have signed the social contract, and to guarantee defense against foreign enemies. Accordingly, what is most important is to give resources and power to the State for internal policing and law enforcement and for military defense against enemies. Any foreign State or group is an actual or potential enemy. From this standpoint, it makes sense to inflate defense budgets, military spending, and to hire 15,000 new ICE officers. All those officers, soldiers, and weapons will keep us safe, and that is what the State must do.
I also grasp, but by no means find defensible, a third reason to be Hobbesian when it comes to the powerful State defending us against “criminal Mexican illegals” and “Muslim terrorists disguised as asylum-seekers.” Thomas Hobbes argues that human beings are essentially egoistic. Our most fundamental passions are fear and the desire for our own safety and security, no matter what happens to others. I suspect that, deep down in their hearts, many people who want to get rid of “illegals” and “dangerous asylum-seekers” are disguising their own selfish and petty fears as “respect for the law” and “patriotic defense of the Fatherland.” It would be more honest to admit to their egoism and fear. That would be Hobbesian enough.
One of the most common excuses is more hypocritical: “First we take care of our own.” That sounds as if they are taking care of someone, when they are taking care of no one or nothing but themselves and their own interests. In that case, they are Hobbesian but pretend not to be.
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