The title of this post is the essence of the famous Hobbesian myth.
Thomas Hobbes was someone I would call a founder of modern statism. Before Hobbes no such thing as the state existed. Indeed Hobbes was inspired by crazy theories of people like Plato and Machiavelli - but their utopias (thank God Almighty!) never came to exist before Hobbes got his hands on them. Hobbes argued that in the state of nature the lives of men are
"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". Men could not, he said, function at all without the threat of a master's whip. What differentiated Hobbes from the likes of Plato was that unlike Plato's famous Republic (which was also a utilitarian society of masters and slaves like the modern state is), the Hobbesian society was based on the consent of the governed. The people supposedly came together and, from the bottom up, placed themselves into the shackles of the state. It was not a top-down tyranny, but a self-imposed one. It was also, the main crux of Hobbes's theory, entirely necessary for these shackled to exist. The Hobbesian myth is, of course, absurd. We all know people can cooperate without force and coercion. In fact had Hobbes been correct how would people have come together to agree to create the state? They wouldn't have! After all people can't cooperate or agree without the state looking over their shoulder, can they? I noticed today in my philosophy class that many people were completely incensed at the idea of Plato's "noble lie". Plato argued that the simple people need to be told that the republic is for their own good and was founded together for their benefit. But he did admit this was a lie. And yet when I mentioned that the same is going on now (noble lie = Hobbesian myth) there were a few laughs around the classroom. I can only assume this would have also taken place in Plato's Republic. People would laugh at others who pointed out the noble lie...
Hobbes's lie was of course picked up by later philosophers. John Locke incorporated this monstrosity into the liberal worldview. From then on no political philosophy was spared this falsehood. It is up to us to change that!
Thomas Paine was one of those flawed liberals who subscribed to the theories of Hobbesian myth and to some extent to fallacious democratic principles. And yet even he - not knowing he was contradicting his own political philosophy! - wrote that
"Human nature is not of itself vicious". Indeed it is not. And that really is something when you realize it's coming from a former pirate!
