an. It is this potential for reasoning that creates the laws of nature, or the laws of self-preservation. Men may go to war with each other over possessions, safety or status, but the laws of nature at times will hold them back. Hobbes says, “A law of nature, is a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may be best preserved” (189). This law forces men to struggle to stay alive at any cost. Many laws of nature are self-evident through reason. Among these are man’s desire to live at peace, man’s willingness to enter into contracts of peace if it suits their interests, and that all men will live up to these contracts if they are legitimate. So, is the nature of man more that of the state of nature, or the laws of nature? Hobbes represents the two as separate, but analysis reveals an implied duality. Man does want to raise his own level of existence, while at the same time man desires to live indefinitely, thus placing man in a moral dilemma. Reason must decide if living in peace is more important than living by a certain standard, whether material or political, even if the result of that decision causes war. Take for example two vagrants starving for food, both noticing a piece of bread and then fighting for the bread to extend their own life. This shows how man can maintain both the state of nature and the law of nature, thus completely defining the nature of man. Having given an understanding as to man’s basic nature as being a creation of God, endowed with the above referenced traits, Hobbes then begins to delve into how man lives together resisting his natural tendency toward war. To properly understand how man might live together peacefully, we must first look at why man continues to fail in this regard. Understanding the negatives a...
