Political Science

According to Thomas Hobbes, men have no pleasure in keeping company where apparently no power is able to overawe them all. Individuals, for Hobbes, seek to overpower other individuals (to be secured and valued). Thus, in the nature of man, there are three principal causes of quarrel competition, diffidence, and glory. The first quarrel is directed towards gain the second for safety and the third for reputation. To secure these aims, violence is necessary. Violence ensured gain, safety, and reputation. It also strikes fear to enemies or competitors.

Thus, within the state of nature, according to Hobbes, there is no law except some natural principles. The first principle is the so-called right of nature  the liberty each man has to use for his own preservation. The second principle is right of delegation  every man be willing, if other agree, to lay down his rights to all things and be contented with the first fundamental principle. Thus, according to Hobbes, the state of nature is chaos and savagery. Society is governed by fear  fear of being killed, fear of being looted, fear of being abused, and fear of being captivated. Fear is the distinct characteristic of the state of nature. Indeed, as Hobbes argued, no society and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short (Hobbes, 39).

Fear though is the cause of organization. It is what drives men to transfer their rights to all things to a single sovereign. As Hobbes argued

And because the condition of is a condition of war of every one against every one, in which case every one is governed by his own reason, and there is nothing he can make use of that may not be a help unto him in preserving his life against his enemies it follows that in such a condition every man has a right to every thing, even to one anothers body  (Hobbes, 44).

Men, fearing the uncertainties within the state of nature, transfer their rights to a sovereign. Men make a social contract to a sovereign to provide protection and organization.

This social contract though is established by fear  and therefore obligatory. Because it is a contract, the exchange of values need not be equal. By transferring all rights to a sovereign, men are bounded by an obligation to obey the sovereign. The sovereign acts not in virtue but in the necessity of preserving the lives of his subjects, as necessitated in the covenant. For whatsoever reasons, the sovereign may follow the contract through fear  for the benefit of the state, rather than the individual.

Fear is the basis of social contract. It is also the means by which it is enforced. Fear of the sovereign is the characteristic definition of the state. Indeed, the efficacy to which individual rights are assumed to be rational depends on the sovereign. The sovereign holds a sword and a staff, covered in thick plating. This indicates the extent of his political and religious power. This also indicates the level of fear attributed to him