Tyrannical Injustice in Hobbes’s Commonwealth – McGill Journal of Political Studies

Many philosophers have their own interpretations of the state of nature and the true nature of mankind. Hobbes depicts one of the first accounts of the state of nature and followed by a theory of sovereignty. He examines the trade-off between security and freedom as the individual, in joining society, is promised protection and security in exchange for the surrender of his natural rights. The outcome of this exchange, however, very much resembles a dictatorial state. As such, man escapes the insecurity of the state of nature only to be deprived of his natural rights in a tyrannical commonwealth. In Leviathan, Hobbes famously describes the life of men in the state of nature as being “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” [1] In other words, because man lives in a state of nature that is characterized by the absence of a higher authority capable of enforcing rules and defining justice, he must constantly fear for his life. At the same time, however, and perhaps somewhat ironically,

Many philosophers have their own interpretations of the state of nature and the true nature of mankind. Hobbes depicts one of the first accounts of the state of nature and followed by a theory of sovereignty. He examines the trade-off between security and freedom as the individual, in joining society, is promised protection and security in exchange for the surrender of his natural rights. The outcome of this exchange, however, very much resembles a dictatorial state. As such, man escapes the insecurity of the state of nature only to be deprived of his natural rights in a tyrannical commonwealt