Hobbes and the Right of Self-Defence
| Author | Geraint Morgan |
| Published date | 01 September 1982 |
| Date | 01 September 1982 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1982.tb00548.x |
| Subject Matter | Article |
HOBBES
AND
THE RIGHT OF SELF-
DEFENCE
GERAINT MORGAN
City
of
Birmingham Polytechnic
Abstract.
The weakness of the Hobbesian sovereign which arises out of what the individual
can do in his own defence is well established. What has not been examined is the attempts
Hobbes makes to counter this and that is the concern
of
this article. He appeals to the
individual to exercise caution on three distinct grounds: on grounds of gallantry, on grounds
of
‘reasonability’ and finally by reference to theology. Each appeal is examined and each is seen to
fail. Such is Hobbes’s insistence on Passion and Will as the basis
of
society that he finds it
impossible to appeal
to
Reason and Nature to temper its exercise.
I.
INTRODUCTION
PROFESSOR WARRENDER
talks of the ‘appalling weakness”
of
the Hobbesian
sovereign. George Catlin maintains that Hobbes has a ‘centrifugal’ system of
ethics.* Both judgements reflect a realization of the same basic weakness in
Hobbes; the emphasis on the inalienability of the right
of
self-defence and the
individual’s concern with security on the one hand, and the sovereign’s failure
to provide the necessary degree of security on the other.
These judgements are well established. What has not been examined,
however, are the attempts Hobbes makes to counter this central defect in his
social and political prescriptions. Recognizing what individuals have the right
to do, and the dangers to civil order arising from the exercise of that right, he
resorts to certain pleas. The first is an appeal to a notion of gallantry; to that
element in human nature which would make a man loath to act
in
a particular
way lest he be thought vain or pusillanimous. The second is an appeal to
‘reasonability’; to the tempering of logic by reference to prudence and common
sense. The third appeal is to be found in his theological and scriptural argument,
and is more oblique. Having tried to establish that to be a Christian is to be a
Hobbist, and thus having to recognize
a
spiritual dimension to the right of self-
defence, reference is made to the example of the Lamb. Christ in no way tried to
defend himself against legitimate Roman authority even though he possessed by
Nature the right to do
so.
These appeals are based on arguments largely extraneous to the main
development of Hobbes’s case, and
it
is hoped to show that they are appeals
in
’
H. Warrender,
The Political Philosophy
o/
Hohbes-His Theory
of
Obligation
(Oxford,
Clarendon Press,
1957),
p.
317.
See
G.
Catlin, Thomas
Hobbes,
as
Philosopher, Publicist
und
Man
q/Le/ters
(Oxford, Clarendon
Press,
1922),
p.
57.
On this point, see
also
H. Arendt,
Origins
of
To/alitarianism
(London, George
Allen and Unwin,
1958),
pp.
13347
and
J.
Locke,
Essays
on
the Law oj’Na/ure
edited
by
W. Von
Leyden (Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1954).
No.
8,
especially p.
213.
Political
Studies,
Vol.
XXX.
No.
3
(413425)
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