Thomas Hobbes and Hannah Ardent | PSIR Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Thomas Hobbes

Utility of Studying Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes is a crucial figure for grasping the principles of modern political life, particularly the concepts and practices that define the modern state. A key aspect of the modern state is sovereignty, which Hobbes was the first to thoroughly theorize.

Sovereignty

• Sovereignty refers to the supreme power or authority to make and enforce laws. In medieval times, authority was often divided, leading to confusion about who held the ultimate power. This lack of clarity contributed to chaos, highlighting the need for a central institution with supreme legal authority.
• The rise of capitalism exacerbated this need. Unlike feudalism, where production relations were based on birth, capitalism relies on contracts. Thus, a strong authority was necessary to ensure the enforcement of laws and contracts.
• Hobbes' theory of sovereignty establishes the supremacy of state-made law over other legal traditions, such as natural law (based on reason), religious law (based on religious texts), customary law (based on customs), and positive law (laws made by the state).
• State-made law is considered supreme because it is the product of rational debate, is certain, and is backed by the power of punishment.

Hobbes as Individualist

Individualism

• Individualism, as understood by Hobbes, posits that the individual precedes the state and that self-interest is paramount. Hobbes viewed humans as inherently individualistic and only social out of necessity. He is associated with the concept of possessive individualism.
• Possessive individualism is a capitalist philosophy suggesting that individuals possess what they do due to their own efforts and, therefore, are not obligated to give back to society.

Hobbes' Theory

• Thomas Hobbes, a British philosopher, lived through a tumultuous period in British history, particularly during the Puritan Revolution of 1641, which was marked by chaos and conflict among various factions, including Catholics and Protestants, as well as royalists and anti-royalists.
• During this time, there was a significant lack of security for both life and property. As a result, Hobbes became deeply concerned with the need for order and security. His primary focus was on the protection of life, which led him to establish the right to life or right to self-preservation as an absolute right.
• Hobbes argued that the right to life is so fundamental that individuals can even kill to protect their own lives, emphasizing the importance of self-defense. He believed that while life is given by God, the state is not the source of this right but rather its protector. Therefore, the state cannot arbitrarily deprive a person of their right to life; such actions must follow the legal procedures established by law, as outlined in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
• Since Hobbes considers the right to life as absolute, this perspective contributes to his reputation as one of the greatest individualists in political philosophy.

Hobbes as a Great Absolutist

Hobbes, as an absolutist, advocates for giving absolute power to the state. His views on the function of the state include:

• Sovereignty: Hobbes argues that the state is sovereign, meaning no other entity, including the church, holds power over the state. This is why Hobbes' book faced prohibition by the church.
• Absolute Authority: The state is absolute, allowing individuals freedom only where the law is silent. If a law exists, individuals must adhere to it. Freedom is granted only to the extent that the state does not impose a law.

Why Lawbreakers Should Be Punished

• Hobbes believes that if one person disobeys the law, it may encourage others to do the same, leading to chaos. When someone breaks the law, they assert their own sovereignty, claiming the right to create their own laws. In any given territory, there can only be one sovereign authority.
• According to Hobbes, the primary purpose of the state is the preservation of life. A state that fails to protect its citizens' lives is considered a failed state. If the state itself starts taking lives, the people have the right to resist the state. While the state has absolute power to make laws and punish lawbreakers, the laws it enforces are those it creates, backed by the power of punishment.
• The state's function is to protect life and maintain order through the monopoly of coercive force within a territory. Any other organization attempting to use force is not permitted.

Why Gandhi Criticized the State

• Gandhi criticized the modern state, not all states. The modern state, introduced in India by colonial rulers, was founded on the principle of violence and the power to punish lawbreakers. Gandhi opposed this notion because he believed that the state was rooted in institutionalized violence, rather than justice.
• To Gandhi, the state represented a form of Leviathan, a powerful entity that could overpower individuals. He argued that the state was built on power far greater than that of any single person, making it futile to resist. The state, in his view, was a collective institution that relied on violence to maintain order.

Is There a Contradiction Between His Individualism and Absolutism?

No, there is no contradiction because Hobbes believes that individuals are so self-centered that they cannot coexist peacefully with others without an absolute authority. His absolutism is not for its own sake, but to ensure the protection of individuals.

Foundation of Utilitarianism
Hobbes laid the groundwork for utilitarianism, also known as hedonism, which posits that humans seek pleasure and aim to avoid pain. This philosophy aligns with materialism and capitalism, as it promotes consumerism. Since pleasure and pain are individual experiences, utilitarianism underscores the individualistic nature of human behavior.

Resolutive Compositive Method of Thomas Hobbes

Hobbes was the first to attempt to apply a scientific method to the study of politics. In the era of science, no theory would be accepted unless it was scientific in nature. Hobbes' method is known as the Resolutive Compositive Method, which was influenced by the work of French mathematician and philosopher Descartes.

Hobbes' method involves the following steps:

1. Observe the phenomenon.
2. Divide the phenomenon into simpler or elemental parts.
3. Establish the cause-and-effect relationship.

This approach is called the resolutive compositive method.
Hobbes, influenced by thinkers like Galileo and Newton, believed that the principles of physics could be applied to understand politics.

Concept of Mechanics:

• The concept of mechanics suggests that the universe is composed of matter, which consists of particles in motion. Similarly, humans are part of the universe, made up of particles that are also in motion. Hobbes applied this idea to understand human behavior.
• He also drew on concepts from psychology to gain insights into human behavior and believed that geometry, due to its logical consistency and systematic nature, could be useful in developing scientific theories.
• Overall, Hobbes aimed to introduce a scientific approach to the study of politics, paralleling the scientific advancements of his time.

Application of Methodology by Hobbes

Resolutive-Compositive Method

• According to Hobbes, all human actions are influenced by human behavior, which is in turn shaped by the human brain. The brain, like everything else in the universe, is made up of particles that are in a constant state of motion. This motion continues as long as a person is alive, although it may slow down during sleep.
• There are two fundamental types of motion in the brain:
• Inclination: This refers to the tendency to move towards something.
• Aversion: This refers to the tendency to move away from something.
• These motions are driven by the movement of particles in response to external stimuli. Inclination is directed towards things that bring pleasure, while aversion is directed away from things that cause pain. Therefore, all human actions are ultimately guided by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Love and aversion are considered the two basic emotions that govern human behavior, making humans inherently hedonistic or pleasure-seeking by nature.

Implications of Hedonistic Nature of Man

• Materialistic: Humans are driven by a desire for physical possessions and material wealth. This is evident in their constant pursuit of resources and goods that provide comfort and satisfaction.
• Individualistic: Humans prioritize their own interests and well-being above all else. This individualism manifests in the way people make decisions and pursue goals that benefit themselves, often at the expense of others.
• Pessessive: Humans have a strong desire to own and control resources, leading to a possessive nature. This is reflected in their reluctance to share and their fierce protection of what they consider theirs.
• Fearful: The fear of losing possessions and status drives many human actions. This fear motivates individuals to secure their belongings and strive for power to protect themselves.
• Power-Seeking: Humans are not only motivated by the desire for possessions but also by the need for power. Power is seen as a means to acquire and maintain the things that bring happiness.

Hobbes on Liberty

• Liberty is where law is silent.
• Hobbes does not favor liberty, believing that too much freedom leads to anarchy.
• In an anarchic state, basic rights, including the right to life, are not guaranteed. For Hobbes, security outweighs liberty in importance.
• When individuals enter into a social contract, they surrender all their rights except the right to life. This gives the state absolute authority.
• With absolute authority, individuals have no freedom to act outside the law. Disobeying the law is akin to claiming sovereignty.
• In any territory, there can only be one sovereign authority. People will follow the law as long as it seems beneficial to them. However, they may be tempted to break the law if it appears more advantageous.
• If one person is not punished for breaking the law, others will follow suit, leading to anarchy. The actions of a few can disrupt the peace for all.
• According to Hobbes, people have two choices: to live under absolute authority or in absolute anarchy. Therefore, the power of the sovereign is absolute, and individuals have no freedom to act according to their own wishes.
• They only have the freedom to act as long as the law is silent.

Negative Liberty vs Positive Liberty

• Negative Liberty: This concept refers to the absence of state interference and represents the original understanding of liberty.
• Positive Liberty: This idea emerged with the welfare state and emphasizes the capacity-building functions performed by the state. For instance, Amartya Sen defines 'development' as the expansion of freedoms.

Hobbes justifies the absolute authority of the state by prioritizing security over liberty. He argues that true liberty does not exist where the state has enacted laws. According to Hobbes, liberty is found in the absence of law.

Being not only a prominent political philosopher but also a celebrated author in English literature, Hobbes' ideas can sometimes be challenging to grasp. He complicates matters further by integrating concepts from natural sciences, particularly physics, into political philosophy.

Hobbes clarifies the concept of liberty by distinguishing it from capacity. He illustrates this through two examples:

• A person may have the freedom to walk but is unable to do so due to illness. In this case, the individual lacks capacity, not freedom.
• He compares this to a liquid in a closed bottle. The liquid has the capacity to flow, but the walls of the bottle restrict its movement. The pressure exerted by the liquid on the walls is a result of this restriction. If there were no walls, there would be no pressure.

Hobbes argues that liberty, in its true sense, is the absence of external impediments to motion. Just as the walls of the bottle impede the liquid's flow, laws made by the state restrict individuals' actions. When laws are in place, individuals must act according to them, as there is no other option.

Hobbes on Law

• Covenants without sword are nothing but words and no strength to secure man at all.
• Hobbes argues that law is ineffective without the power of punishment to enforce it. In the Western tradition, there are two main approaches to law:
• Natural Law/Reason: This approach, supported by thinkers like Plato and Aristotle, emphasizes moral principles derived from nature or reason.
• Positive Law: This refers to laws created by the state. Hobbes advocates for positive law and dismisses natural law as insufficient.
• Hobbes criticizes natural law for two main reasons:
• Lack of Certainty: Natural law can vary from person to person, lacking a universal standard.
• Failure to Achieve Order: Natural law does not effectively establish order or security, as seen in the state of nature.
• In the state of nature, where there was no government, natural law existed but failed to create order. This is why the state of nature was characterized by conflict and violence.
• Natural law, being a product of reason, expects humans to be rational. However, human passions often dominate reason, leading to chaos.
• Hobbes believes that while humans have some capacity for reason, it is limited to pursuing immediate pleasures and does not extend to long-term considerations. Therefore, reason alone cannot establish order.
• For Hobbes, positive law is the only means to achieve peace and order because it is clear and backed by the threat of punishment. Without the fear of punishment, people will not obey the law.
• In international politics, where there is no overarching authority, power becomes both a means and an end. International law is weak, lacking enforcement power.
• Hobbes asserts that law without the threat of punishment is not law in the true sense. In the state of nature, natural law was present, but it could not establish order.
• The state of nature was described by Hobbes as nasty, poor, brutish, and short because natural law depended on human reason, which was often overridden by passions.
• If humans followed natural law, there would be peace, but since reason is limited, and passions dominate, natural law is better referred to as Articles of Peace or Councils of Prudence.
• According to Hobbes, law in the proper sense is the command of the sovereign. Unlike state-made law, which is clear and enforceable, natural law lacks certainty and effectiveness.
• Hobbes emphasizes that without the fear of punishment, individuals will not comply with the law. Therefore, he believes that covenants without the threat of force are meaningless.
• When comparing domestic and international scenarios, Hobbes' view holds true. International law, lacking enforcement mechanisms, leads to a continuous struggle for power among nations.

Assessment of Hobbes as a Thinker

Hobbes as the Greatest Individualist

Individualism, a modern philosophical perspective, can trace its origins back to the thoughts of the Sophists. At its core, individualism prioritizes self-interest over the collective good. Within this framework, individualists can be divided into two categories:

• Methodological Individualists: These theorists base their political theories on the individualistic nature of humanity. Hobbes, for example, constructs his political theory around this individualistic perspective, positioning him as a methodological individualist.
• Normative Individualists: Normative individualists believe that there is nothing inherently wrong with being individualistic. Hobbes falls into this category as well, as he does not see any need to change human nature. For him, there is no distinction between what is and what ought to be.

Hobbes is often regarded as the greatest of all individualists because he was the first to logically demonstrate, using the resolutive-compositive method, that humans are inherently utilitarian and therefore individualistic by nature. This idea is as natural a fact as the Earth's orbit around the Sun. He also played a crucial role in removing the sense of guilt associated with selfishness.

• As a scholar of the capitalist class, Hobbes's philosophy aligns with the interests of this group. He legitimizes the capitalist pursuit of profit maximization and argues that there is nothing wrong with self-centered behavior. Additionally, he established the right to life as an absolute right, asserting that individuals can kill others to protect their own lives.
• Some scholars have noted contradictions in Hobbes's thoughts. For instance, McPherson suggests that Hobbes begins as an individualist but concludes as an absolutist, or that he is individualist in his assumptions but absolutist in his conclusions. However, Sabine argues that Hobbes's absolutism is a consequence of his individualism. According to Sabine, Hobbes creates an absolute state to protect the individual and their right to life. Even within this absolute state, individuals retain the right to resist the state if it infringes upon their right to life.

Hannah Arendt

Notable works: The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), The Human Condition, and On Violence (1970).

• Hannah Arendt is often regarded as the only female scholar acknowledged as a philosopher.
• She describes her approach to thinking as "thinking without barriers," indicating that she writes primarily for herself, with little concern for making her ideas easily understandable to readers.
• Her methodology is complex and aligns with phenomenology, a philosophical approach that emphasizes the study of conscious experiences.

Her Major Works

• This work is one of Hannah Arendt's most controversial contributions. As a German of Jewish descent and a contemporary of Hitler, she experienced the atrocities inflicted on Jews during that period.
• Due to the horrors she witnessed, Arendt eventually sought asylum in the United States.
• In this book, she critiques both Nazism and Stalinism. In her other writings, she expresses admiration for the United States, particularly regarding the American Revolution and democracy.
• Given that her work emerged during the Cold War, it was often perceived as politically motivated, and she was labeled a Cold War intellectual.

On Human Condition

• This is considered Arendt's major philosophical work, where she presents her theory of action.
• In this book, she argues that the most crucial function of human beings is participation in politics.
• While it may be challenging to categorize her within a specific school of thought, she can be associated with "civic republicanism," which emphasizes civil society activism and public involvement in political affairs.

Eichmann in Jerusalem

• In this work, Arendt introduces the concept of the "banality of evil."

Hannah Arendt on Totalitarianism

• Having witnessed the atrocities of the Nazi regime firsthand, Arendt's analysis of totalitarianism is deeply informed by her experiences.
• Her methodology is rooted in phenomenology, emphasizing the importance of understanding the lived experiences of individuals under totalitarian rule.
• Arendt's work is considered one of the most profound analyses of totalitarianism, offering insights into its nature and implications.

What is Totalitarianism?

• Totalitarianism refers to a form of government that seeks to control every aspect of public and private life.
• Hannah Arendt believed that totalitarianism is best understood through the experiences of those who lived under it, particularly Jews in Nazi Germany.
• She described totalitarianism as a regime marked by reigns of terror and violence.

Characteristics of Totalitarian State

• A totalitarian state is characterized by its use of extreme violence.
• Unlike earlier authoritarian regimes, totalitarianism not only aims to control actions and speech but also seeks to dominate the very essence of individuals.
• In totalitarian regimes, such as those led by Hitler and Stalin, violence is not merely a means to an end; it becomes an end in itself.
• The foundation of a totalitarian state is terror, which is justified and sustained by a rigid ideology.
• Terror and ideology are the primary instruments through which totalitarian states maintain control.

Hannah Arendt on Ideology

• Hannah Arendt was a critic of ideology, arguing that those who promote ideologies often present them as scientific truths. However, she believed that ideologies are fundamentally based on myths and are misused by totalitarian leaders.
• She provided examples from fascism and communism, where the founders of these ideologies claimed their ideas were scientific. For instance, Marx framed his theory as a science, just as Hitler did with his theory of Aryan racial superiority, which he based on Darwin's concepts of 'struggle for existence' and 'natural selection.'
• Arendt argued that totalitarians presented their ideologies as governed by superhuman laws of nature, suggesting that nature would unfold according to these laws. Human beings, in this view, were responsible for advancing these natural laws, rather than opposing them.
• Rather than being passive participants in history, individuals were encouraged to take active roles. For example, while Marx called for the elimination of capitalists, Hitler called for the extermination of Jews. Both appealed to the masses to commit violence against targeted enemies in the name of historical laws.
• When people become complicit in such conspiracies, it becomes easier to justify acts of violence.

Hannah Arendt on Politics

• This she has explained in her book ON HUMAN CONDITION and on the basis of her theory of action. She has applied phenomenological approach.

According to Hannah Arendt, Action is more important than thinking. She gives hierarchy of actions. Least important action is labour.

• What is labour? Those actions which are performed to fulfil our basic needs. Man has no control, there is no freedom for man in this sphere. All animals perform this action. In this stage, man is animal laboran.
• Work: Work comes in second place. It includes those actions like economic activities, professional actions etc. According to Hannah Arendt, man is builder of this world, when man performs this action, they make the world a place worth living. Man is Homo Faber. He is only partially free.
• Action: Highest in the hierarchy. Most important action. Only humans perform it. Sphere of complete freedom. It is participation in politics or political action. When man performs political action, he achieves ‘human condition’. After all man is Zoon Politikon.

Hannah Arendt on Relationship between Action and Speech

• According to Hannah Arendt, action is speech and speech is action. She means to say that there should be no difference in what we say and what we do.
•  In the words of Hannah Arendt “Only where words and deeds have not parted company, where words are not empty and deeds are not brutal. 
• Where words are not used to hide, but to reveal.” Thus for Hannah Arendt “the action is the only activity that goes on directly between humans… corresponds the condition of plurality… this condition is not only condition sine qua non but condition per quam.