What Is Freedom To You

[MMI]

Thomas Hobbes:- THE right of nature, which writers commonly call jus naturale, is the liberty each man hath to use his own power as he will himself for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life; and consequently, of doing anything which, in his own judgement and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto.

By liberty is understood, according to the proper signification of the word, the absence of external impediments; which impediments may oft take away part of a man's power to do what he would, but cannot hinder him from using the power left him according as his judgement and reason shall dictate to him.

Rip into that, Tom !

[TomOfSweden]

Rip into that, Tom !

Hobbes theory is that the nature of man is to use their freedom to infringe upon others freedom if they can.

Hobbes didn't have any love for freedom. He thought man needs his freedom quashed by living under a dictatorship to have any peace. Just one for all humans would be best.

The Leviathan theory is basically any despot. And all the rulers he used as a template for the time, were all ten times worse than Adolf Hitler.

Hobbes is important because his philosophical ideas were the stepping stone for Locke and Hume. The parliamentary democracy we got in the west, was an update of Hobbes Leviathan. But I wouldn't say Hobbes thoughts on freedom have any place in the modern western world.

His biggest contribution to philosophy I'd say is that he thinks humans behave predictably, ie we don't have free will. I think he was the first philosopher to question whether man's will is free. Which was a huge step forward in creating a large number of institutions we all take for granted today, like mental health, legal courts and election processes.