back to ideas for this text


Single Idea 19764

[from 'Leviathan' by Thomas Hobbes, in 24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / b. The natural life ]

Full Idea

Hobbes had wrongly injected into the savage man's concern for self-preservation the need to satisfy a multitude of passions which are the product of society and which have made laws necessary.

Gist of Idea

Hobbes attributed to savages the passions which arise in a law-bound society

Source

report of Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651]) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Part I

Book Reference

Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Basic Political Writings', ed/tr. Cress,Donald A. [Hackett 1987], p.53


A Reaction

Hobbes's famous remark concerns a state of war, which is quite a sophisticated state of conflict between well formed social groups. Rousseau's savage is fairly solitary, so won't be involved in war.