Men by nature equal
NATURE hath made men so equal in the faculties of
body and mind as that, though there be found one man sometimes manifestly
stronger in body or of quicker mind than another, yet when all is reckoned
together the difference between man and man is not so considerable as that
one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit to which another may
not pretend as well as he. For as to the strength of body, the weakest
has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination
or by confederacy with others that are in the same danger with himself.
And as to the faculties of the mind, (setting aside
the arts grounded upon words, and especially that skill of proceeding upon
general and infallible rules, called Science, which very few have...) I
find yet a greater equality amongst men than that of strength....
From Equality proceeds Diffidence
From this equality of ability ariseth equality of
hope in the attaining of our Ends. And therefore if any two men desire
the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become
enemies; and in the way to their End (which is principally their own conservation,
and sometimes their delectation only) endeavour to destroy or subdue one
another. And from hence it comes to pass that where an invader hath no
more to fear than another man's single power, if one plant, sow, build,
or possess a convenient seat, others may probably be expected to come prepared
with forces united to dispossess and deprive him, not only of the fruit
of his labour, but also of his life or liberty. And the invader again is
in the like danger of another.
From Diffidence War
And from this diffidence of one another, there is
no way for any man to secure himself so reasonable as anticipation; that
is, by force, or wiles, to master the persons of all men he can so long
till he see no other power great enough to endanger him: and this is no
more than his own conservation requireth, and is generally allowed. Also,
because there be some that, taking pleasure in contemplating their own
power in the acts of conquest, which they pursue farther than their security
requires, if others, that otherwise would be glad to be at ease within
modest bounds, should not by invasion increase their power, they would
not be able, long time, by standing only on their defence, to subsist.
And by consequence, such augmentation of dominion over men being necessary
to a man's conservation, it ought to be allowed him.
Again, men have no pleasure (but on the contrary
a great deal of grief) in keeping company where there is no power able
to overawe them all. For every man looketh that his companion should value
him at the same rate he sets upon himself, and upon all signs of contempt
or undervaluing naturally endeavours, as far as he dares (which amongst
them that have no common power to keep them in quiet is far enough to make
them destroy each other), to extort a greater value from his contemners,
by damage; and from others, by the example.
So that in the nature of man, we find three principal
causes of quarrel. First, Competition; secondly, Diffidence; thirdly, Glory.
The first maketh men invade for Gain; the second,
for Safety; and the third, for Reputation. The first use Violence, to make
themselves Masters of other men's persons, wives, children, and cattle;
the second, to defend them; the third, for trifles, as a word, a smile,
a different opinion, and any other sign of undervalue, either direct in
their Persons or by reflection in their Kindred, their Friends, their Nation,
their Profession, or their Name.
Out of Civil States, there is always War of every one against
every one
Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live
without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition
which is called War; and such a war as is of every man against every man.
For War consisteth not in Battle only, or the act of fighting, but in a
tract of time, wherein the Will to contend by Battle is sufficiently known:
and therefore the notion of time is to be considered in the nature
of War, as it is in the nature of weather. For as the nature of foul weather
lieth not in a shower or two of rain, but in an inclination thereto of
many days together: so the nature of war consisteth not in actual fighting,
but in the known disposition thereto during all the time there is no assurance
to the contrary. All other time is Peace.
The Incommodities of such a war
Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of
war, where every man is Enemy to every man, the same consequent to the
time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength
and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there
is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently
no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that
may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving
and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face
of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and
which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and
the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
It may seem strange to some man that has not well
weighed these things that Nature should thus dissociate and render men
apt to invade and destroy one another: and he may therefore, not trusting
to this Inference, made from the Passions, desire perhaps to have the same
confirmed by Experience. Let him therefore consider with himself: when
taking a journey, he arms himself and seeks to go well accompanied; when
going to sleep, he locks his doors; when even in his house he locks his
chests; and this when he knows there be Laws and public Officers, armed,
to revenge all injuries shall be done him; what opinion he has of his fellow
subjects, when he rides armed; of his fellow Citizens, when he locks his
doors; and of his children, and servants, when he locks his chests. Does
he not there as much accuse mankind by his actions as I do by my words?
But neither of us accuse man's nature in it. The Desires, and other Passions
of man, are in themselves no Sin. No more are the Actions that proceed
from those Passions till they know a Law that forbids them; which till
Laws be made they cannot know, nor can any Law be made till they have agreed
upon the Person that shall make it.
It may peradventure be thought there was never such
a time nor condition of war as this; and I believe it was never generally
so, over all the world: but there are many places where they live so now.
For the savage people in many places of America, except the government
of small Families, the concord whereof dependeth on natural lust, have
no government at all, and live at this day in that brutish manner, as I
said before. Howsoever, it may be perceived what manner of life there would
be, where there were no common Power to fear, by the manner of life which
men that have formerly lived under a peaceful government, use to degenerate
into, in a civil War.
But though there had never been any time wherein
particular men were in a condition of war one against another, yet in all
times Kings and Persons of Sovereign authority, because of their Independency,
are in continual jealousies, and in the state and posture of Gladiators,
having their weapons pointing, and their eyes fixed on one another; that
is, their Forts, Garrisons, and Guns upon the frontiers of their Kingdoms,
and continual Spies upon their neighbours, which is a posture of War. But
because they uphold thereby the Industry of their Subjects, there does
not follow from it that misery which accompanies the Liberty of particular
men.
In such a War, nothing is Unjust
To this war of every man against every man, this
also is consequent; that nothing can be Unjust. The notions of Right and
Wrong, Justice and Injustice, have there no place. Where there is no common
Power, there is no Law; where no Law, no Injustice. Force and Fraud are
in war the two cardinal virtues. Justice and Injustice are none of the
faculties neither of the Body nor Mind. If they were, they might be in
a man that were alone in the world, as well as his Senses and Passions.
They are qualities that relate to men in Society, not in Solitude. It is
consequent also to the same condition that there be no Propriety, no Dominion,
no Mine and Thine distinct; but only that to be every man's
that he can get, and for so long as he can keep it. And thus much for the
ill condition which man by mere Nature is actually placed in; though with
a possibility to come out of it, consisting partly in the Passions, partly
in his Reason.
The Passions that incline men to Peace
The passions that incline men to Peace are: Fear
of Death; Desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living;
and a Hope by their Industry to obtain them. And Reason suggesteth convenient
Articles of Peace upon which men may be drawn to agreement. These Articles
are they which otherwise are called the Laws of Nature, whereof I shall
speak more particularly in the two following chapters.
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