Where There Is No Common Power There Is No Law Where No Law No Injustice

This may seem strange to someone who has not weighed these things well; This nature, therefore, must separate and allow men to invade and destroy one another: and therefore, since he does not rely on this conclusion drawn from the passions, he may perhaps wish that the same thing should be confirmed by experience. Therefore, he must think with himself, when he undertakes a journey, he arms himself and seeks to go well accompanied; When he falls asleep, he locks his back; when he closes his chest even in his house; and this when he knows that the Lawes and the pub officers, armed, will inflict on him all wounds to take revenge; what opinion he has of his companions when he goes up armed; of his fellow citizens when he imprisons his Dores; and of his children and servants, when he closes his breast. Doesn`t he accuse humanity there by his deeds as I do by my words? But none of us blame human nature. Man`s desires and other passions are not in themselves a sin. There are no more actions that emanate from these passions, until they know a law that forbids them; As long as laws are not passed, they cannot know: no law can be made until they have agreed on who will make it. But although there was never a time when people in particular were in a state of war with each other; but at all times kings and persons of sovereign authority are constantly jealous because of their independence, and in the state and attitude of gladiators; their weapons pointed and their eyes fixed on each other; that is, their forts, garrisons, and cannons on the borders of their kingdoms; and they constantly spy on their neighbors; It is an attitude of war. But because they thus maintain the industry of their subjects; It does not follow the misery that accompanies the freedom of some people. This war of all against every man is also the consequence of it; that nothing can be unjust. The concepts of good and evil, justice and injustice have no place there.

Where there is no common power, there is no law: where there is no law, no injustice. Violence and deception are at war between the two cardinal virtues. Justice and injustice are not abilities, neither of body nor of mind. If they were, they could be in a man who was alone in the world, along with his senses and passions. These are qualities that relate to people in society, not loneliness. It also follows the same condition that there is no decency, no domination, no mine, no distinction; but one that every man should be that he can obtain; And that as long as he can keep it. And too bad for the bad state in which man is really placed by nature; but with the possibility of getting out of it, which consists partly in passions, partly in one`s reason. Therefore, all that results from a time of war in which every man is the enemy of every man; And the life of man, lonely, poor, bad, brutal and short. Whenever a person transfers or renounces his or her right; it transfers itself either taking into account a right conferred on it; or for any other good he hopes for. For it is a voluntary act: and voluntary actions of every human being, the object is something good for itself. And therefore, there are rights that no human being can give up or have conferred by words or other signs. For first of all, a man cannot renounce the right to oppose those who attack him by force in order to take his life; for he cannot be understood by this, to any good for himself.

The same can be said of wounds, chayns, and captivity; both, because there is no benefit to such patience; For it is part of the patience of hurting or imprisoning someone else: as well as because a man cannot tell when he sees how people act against him with violence, whether they intend to kill him or not. Finally, the reason and purpose for which this waiver and the transfer or right is introduced are nothing other than the security of a person in his life and in the means of preserving life in such a way that one does not tire of it. And wherefore, when a man seems by words or other signs to disappoint himself with the end for which these signs were destined; It is not to be understood as meaning or that it was his will; but that he did not know how to interpret such words and deeds. Thomas Hobbes (1588–† 1679) was an English philosopher who is considered one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for the book Leviathan, which established the social contract theory that served as the basis for much of Western political philosophy. Social contract theory states that individuals have agreed to give up some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the head of state or the decision of a majority, in exchange for security and on the condition that the state can compel others to abide by their agreements, as in a contract. Hobbes also developed some views that are still common in Western philosophy today. He emphasized the social and political rights of each individual, the natural equality of all peoples, the idea that any legitimate political power must be representative and based on the consent of the people, and an interpretation of the law that leaves people free to do anything that the law does not expressly prohibit. Nature has made men so equal, in the faculties of body and mind; as if he found a man who was sometimes evidently stronger in body or sharper mind than another; But if everything is added together, the difference between man and man is not so great that one man can then claim an advantage for himself which another cannot claim, as well as he can. For as far as the strength of the body is concerned, the weaker has enough power to kill the strongest, either by secret machinations or by confederation with others who are in the same danger as him. Freedom, in the correct sense of the word, is understood to mean the absence of external obstacles: what obstacles can often remove some of a person`s power to do what he would do; but he cannot prevent him from using the power entrusted to him, as his judgment and reason will dictate. All that results from a time of war in which every man is the enemy of every man; The same goes for the time when people live with no security other than what their own strength and invention will give them with everything.

In such a state, there is no place for industry; because the fruit of it is uncertain; and consequently no cultivation of the land; no navigation or use of goods that may be imported by sea; no spacious building; no instruments to move and remove such things that require a lot of force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no time count; no arts; no letters; no business; and worst of all, constant fear and danger of violent death; And the life of man, lonely, poor, bad, brutal and short. The passions that lead people to peace are the feat of death; craving for things necessary for a comfortable life; and a hope of their industry to preserve them. And reason offers comfortable articles of peace on which people can agree. It is these articles that are otherwise called the laws of nature, which I will discuss in more detail in the next two chapters. The right is set aside, either by simply renouncing it; or by transfer to another. By mere renunciation; if he doesn`t care who benefits. BY TRANSFER; if it intends to benefit one or more specific persons.