Hobbes, the State of Nature and the Human Predicament

Abstract

The triadic conception of the history of political thought, presented by Michael Oakeshott in his edition of Leviathan, is a useful heuristic framework through which to explore the idea of Hobbes’s state of nature. Hobbes’s position comes into sharp relief when examined through the criticisms of representatives from two traditions opposed to that to which Hobbes belongs. By examining the critiques by Pufendorf and Rousseau, representatives of the two alternative traditions, we are better able to appreciate the character of Hobbes’s portrayal of the human predicament. Hobbes, as an exemplar of the tradition of ‘Will and Artifice’ draws heavily upon his first publication, the translation of Thucydides’ The History of the Grecian War, which had a strong bearing on how Hobbes perceived the natural condition of humankind, and is indicative of the representation of human nature projected by the tradition of ‘Will and Artifice’.