Ship 30 for 30
Who’s winning the World Heavyweight Championship of Ideas?
An ideological boxing match has been running for at least 8,000 years.
It can be thought of as a tug of war between two opposing and contemporary English philosophers.
In the red corner …. Thomas Hobbes.
Thought that human life was “nasty, brutish and short”.
We all rank barely above animals and need the Rule of Law and a strong powerful government to keep us from tearing each other apart. Only the superior life form of the government keeps us alive.
In the blue corner …. John Locke.
Thought rather more highly of Human Beans.
Would probably say that it was government that was nasty and brutish (though not exactly short). Government should exist only on the consent of the people.
Both allowed that Human Beans are selfish.
Locke also allowed that we are capable of rational thought, and can construct civil societal systems for resolving conflicts that we administer ourselves.
Hobbes did not.
(Interestingly, he wrote his famous poetic treatise Leviathan while in the pay of the King. Gotta wonder: Did he know where his bread was buttered?)
You …. if you are a thinking Human Bean …. need to consider:
(1) Which of these two you favour personally, and
(2) Which one you think is currently winning The Heavyweight Championship of Ideas in the world today.
For the second question, I’ll give you a hint:
It’s Hobbes.
