Once a month, The duty challenges philosophy enthusiasts to decipher a current issue based on the theses of a notable thinker.
The situation of certain countries that are geographically close to us should worry us. Notably because many of our fellow citizens come from these countries and we share part of their suffering out of sympathy, but also because the social and political destabilization of certain Latin American and Caribbean states is not unrelated to the migratory waves which are sweeping across the United States and Canada.
Behind these migratory waves lies poverty, but also a need for the State. In fact, people who leave certain South American countries today no longer do so simply to ensure a better future, they do so to survive, simply because life in the more or less short term is no longer there. no longer guaranteed by governments now powerless in the face of the power of criminal groups.
As such, the danger that threatens any society where political power demonstrates impotence is now obvious. We only have to think about what has been happening over the past few months in Haiti or what has been happening over the past few decades in Mexico. On a philosophical level, it was Thomas Hobbes who, from the 17the century, had theorized the necessity of the State and the risk which weighed on any human community when this institution was absent or in competition.
This philosopher had also reflected in his time, in a context of civil war, on the means or reflective practices allowing us to escape from chaos. So much so that, in Hobbesian philosophy, like a geometric figure, the State appears in many respects as a rational construction.
However, how does the philosopher of Malmesbury manage to impose, in reason, the need for a State in his master work, the Leviathan ? Answering this question could perhaps give us some food for thought to help some of our neighbors restore the power of their state.
The state of nature
To answer this question, it must first be noted that the first chapters of the Leviathan reveal a reflection on human nature that is extremely rich and less simplistic than what is often said.
Human beings, for Hobbes, are not simply evil. He is above all a being composed of matter and whose mechanics fuels desires and passions. According to him, one desire is moreover stronger than the others and imposes itself universally on all human beings: the “restless desire to acquire power after power, a desire which only ceases at death”.
Indeed, like all animals, humans are driven by an élan vital, which means that they want to persevere in their being. More precisely, for Hobbes, a vital movement animates the body automatically and this organic mechanism, as a general rule, leads every human being to want to reject their own finitude and thus to fear death.
According to the philosopher, with this will then comes a quest for power “in the direction of the future”. Everyone would like to ensure their existence by obtaining what is pleasant to them and by accumulating “instrumental power”, that is to say goods, wealth, relationships, so as to momentarily satisfy this primary feeling which animates us. all: worry about tomorrow. In fact, whether you are a migrant or a long-time citizen, the future remains uncertain, and the easier and more comfortable life is, the less worried human beings are about their own preservation.
However, what happens to this natural quest for power for life when society is not structured enough? This is what Hobbes explains in the famous chapter XIII of Leviathan.
Moreover, many people are familiar with this theory of the state of nature, but few know how to really appreciate its theoretical power. Thus, the Hobbesian state of nature does not represent a stage of universal history, but it is not just a simple thought experiment. It is a virtual state, a potentiality which threatens or precedes any State already constituted. In this regard, it illustrates the other side of a well-organized society: a state without a state.
Here lies one of the great strengths of the presentation in chapter XIII: the state of nature is a universal situation into which any community can fall, whether it is developed or not, whether it is at the north or south.
More precisely, Hobbes describes this state as a situation in which there is a constant danger of violent death and where “human life is solitary, miserable, dangerous, animalistic, and brief.” If the philosopher manifests such anthropological pessimism, it is because he reflects on the natural condition of the human being when he has failed to establish or maintain the artifices of culture, notably the artifices of political culture.
In this sense, if all humans want to live and are hungry for power to ensure their existence, but no third party can regulate this competition for the possession of rare goods, the competition inevitably turns into a struggle to the death where no one can prevail triumphantly.
Finitude
Hobbes makes it very clear: human beings are equal. They are all mortal creatures and there is no individual strong enough or intelligent enough to escape their finitude or permanently protect themselves from it by imposing their authority on all others. In this way, as equals, individuals then have the legitimate belief that they can achieve their goals, that they can survive by increasing their power.
Equality in the state of nature then generates a feeling of distrust. Humans distrust each other, because one individual can defeat or be defeated by another. In this way, to escape this state of permanent distrust, human beings would go on the attack, that is to say, a war of all against all.
This war can see the birth of associations (bands, gangs, clans), it can also have different motives: distrust, competition and glory; but it cannot ensure anything, neither victory, nor property, nor rights, nor wealth, nor morality. The state of nature is therefore a chaotic and violent state where nothing is guaranteed, because no common power is capable of ensuring peace, law and justice reign. The state of nature is, in a way, what some of our neighbors on the continent are dramatically experiencing, a state of quasi-civil war.
Leave the state of nature
In Hobbesian philosophy, this state only ends when individuals realize that their lives cannot ultimately be assured in this situation. The fear of violent death, the desire for power and the desire to live a comfortable existence would lead human beings to want to escape the state of nature and establish a State.
Very precisely, by following this passion, by seeking to preserve themselves, human beings are led to discover in reason what Hobbes calls the law of nature and natural laws. Thus, by thinking about it carefully, everyone can understand that their life is not adequately protected, if everyone can use all means to ensure their existence alone. In fact, if everyone can use their freedom as they wish to survive, we remain prisoners of the war of each against each, where competing freedoms are in violent struggle.
Consequently, if we recognize that all human beings have a right to life and that they have, by the same token, the right to do everything possible to ensure this life which is theirs, in accordance with the first laws natural, they will be called upon to abandon this right (absolute freedom), if all agree, to conclude a social contract and thus generate the State.
In this way, with reason, but especially with speech, individuals contract with a view to peace, concluding a verbal pact. Everyone tells themselves and affirms to others that it is better to give up this total freedom, if each agrees to transfer this absolute freedom that they possess to a third party whose objective will be to guarantee peace.
For this convention to work, the vast majority of individuals must obey this new institution (a person or an assembly) and this third party must have all the common force to impose peace through the terror inspired by its omnipotence. .
This third party is none other than the sovereign, the soul of the State in Hobbes. His role in the Leviathan is to guarantee individuals a peaceful and safe life. It also consists of preserving the law and legality. Far from totalitarianism or tyrannical power, Hobbes theorizes here the essential role of state action in its simplest expression. It must ensure peace.
As Max Weber would later say, the state must be able to claim “successfully for its own sake the monopoly of legitimate physical violence.” Otherwise, if its power is challenged or prevented, in particular by criminal groups, any society risks falling towards the state of nature, that is to say civil war.
If the generation of the State proceeds, in the Leviathan, first of all a rational process, one can doubt whether such a reflective exercise would be useful in the tragic reality of the Haitian crisis or in the harsh reality of the war on drug trafficking in Mexico. However, re-reading a few chapters of Hobbes’s work can enlighten us as to the causes and possible solutions to find to emerge from these crises.
In this sense, it is time to help rebuild or strengthen the power of certain states on the American continent, so that peace can return to our neighbors in the long term. It is no longer enough to send millions of dollars or humanitarian aid missions. This is perhaps the moment to initiate a deep reflection on the foundations of the State, in order to actively help these communities to regain the strength of public affairs. It is in their interest, as well as ours.
To suggest a text or to make comments and suggestions, write to Dave Noël at [email protected].