Hobbes & Nietzsche

Major Points on Hobbes & One Introductory Point on Nietzsche's "Will to Power"

Note:  You cannot print these and use them for the quiz tomorrow.  You may use these notes as a guide to make sure you have all the major arguments.  Do not copy them verbatim, or you will not be allowed to use them.  The point is to utilize the following as a supplement to class notes (not to copy them mindlessly).

1.  Hobbes argues that everyone starts off pretty much equal mentally and physically.  This leads to conflict because:

• People on the same level will naturally compete
• People who have the same abilities will likely have the same goals or desires and will compete over them.

2.  Hobbes argues there are three major causes of conflict amongst people who are equal

• Competition (see above)
• If someone lacks confidence he/she may try to attack someone else before they can attack him/her
• People who are equal will try to get a better reputation or more recognition from peers; they may try to gain this by “beating” someone else at something.

3.  According to Hobbes, when everyone is competing (what Hobbes calls a “state of war”) we can’t make progress as a society (culturally, socially, and economically):

• People do not create new ideas/inventions/products, because they are uncertain that anything good will come of it when it's every man for himself.
• People are so afraid of death that there is no room for anything else.
• This results in Hobbes stating his most famous quote: If we have no government to keep us in line,  "the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" because we are all fighting against one another.

4.  Hobbes believes we don’t trust one another at all

• We travel “armed” (this may not seem as true to you now,  but Hobbes would argue that that is because we have a strong government and laws.  That said, some people still carry mace with them, and many students at my former school carried weapons to protect themselves when they walked home, since they lived in dangerous neighborhoods...)
• We lock our doors because we think people may try to steal our belongings or harm us.
• Inside our houses, we lock cabinets, drawers, (to relate this argument to the modern world, we password-protect documents, phones etc.) because we don’t even trust our own family members!

5.  Hobbes believes that if there is no law against something, it is not a “sin” to do it.

• People don’t actually understand the difference between right and wrong.  
• We need laws to tell us the difference.
• Therefore, if there are no laws, there’s basically no such thing as right and wrong.  If there is no law against murder, it’s not wrong to kill someone!  We simply don’t know any better.

6.  Nietzsche believes that everyone strives for power

• He argues against the idea that people want happiness or pleasure (well, we DO want that, but on a more fundamental level, we want power, since we are only happy when we actually have power).
• If you have power, happiness and pleasure are the result (so you may think you want happiness, when really what you want is power)
• All of our actions, whether conscious or not, are geared towards gaining power.
• Nietzsche is, however, more concerned with complete power over oneself and one's life than power over others.  
• His theories were misconstrued by the Nazi party to further their antisemitic agenda.