"Few would call themselves Hobbesians, and next to none invoke the Leviathan of Hobbes’s imagery. But as long as evil lurks in human hearts, or as long as people think it does, Hobbes will have an audience.: THIS IS QUITE TRUE. I have heard it said that Churchill or others were Lockean (this is considered a compliment). But to be a Hobbesian is surely an epithet. But you are right. We all have a little of Hobbes in us if we are honest. Man can be good but selfishness, greed and evil lurk in our hearts. There is no question people CAN BE GOOD even noble BUT the world is a dangerous place. We are an aggressive species. We clawed our way to the top of the animal kingdom by "secret machination or by confederacy." Who but man killed all the mammoths and drove the whales almost into extinction? Who destroyed Carthage and Cornith? Who obliterated Ninevah and Tyre? The lessons of these fallen cities is that man can be evil and ruthless. Power and wealth are ephemeral. Worldy success ends, at last in dust and ashes. But, generally speaking we hate the cruel and ruthless. We are attracted to the gentle and kind and I think drawn to protect them against the strong. So men and women have a noble side. The Nazis and the Communists combined moral relativism -the belief that right and wrong can be modified or ignored for the convenience of a political faction. Their higher law was superior to any moral code such as the Ten Commandments. I believe that moral philosphies and religious faith can palliate the darker side of mankind. There will always be war and rumors of war. There will always be greed, cruelty and the miseries of the weak and the poor and the dispossessed. But there is such a thing as Moral Force there is conscience that
an inner feeling which can be a restraint or a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior. There is always hope and charity. The Great Teacher gave us many lessons and perhaps the greatest was that we ourselves are not the be all and end all. We must be humble. We must be forgiving. We must exhibit mercy. We must love on another,
"Few would call themselves Hobbesians, and next to none invoke the Leviathan of Hobbes’s imagery. But as long as evil lurks in human hearts, or as long as people think it does, Hobbes will have an audience.: THIS IS QUITE TRUE. I have heard it said that Churchill or others were Lockean (this is considered a compliment). But to be a Hobbesian is surely an epithet. But you are right. We all have a little of Hobbes in us if we are honest. Man can be good but selfishness, greed and evil lurk in our hearts. There is no question people CAN BE GOOD even noble BUT the world is a dangerous place. We are an aggressive species. We clawed our way to the top of the animal kingdom by "secret machination or by confederacy." Who but man killed all the mammoths and drove the whales almost into extinction? Who destroyed Carthage and Cornith? Who obliterated Ninevah and Tyre? The lessons of these fallen cities is that man can be evil and ruthless. Power and wealth are ephemeral. Worldy success ends, at last in dust and ashes. But, generally speaking we hate the cruel and ruthless. We are attracted to the gentle and kind and I think drawn to protect them against the strong. So men and women have a noble side. The Nazis and the Communists combined moral relativism -the belief that right and wrong can be modified or ignored for the convenience of a political faction. Their higher law was superior to any moral code such as the Ten Commandments. I believe that moral philosphies and religious faith can palliate the darker side of mankind. There will always be war and rumors of war. There will always be greed, cruelty and the miseries of the weak and the poor and the dispossessed. But there is such a thing as Moral Force there is conscience that
an inner feeling which can be a restraint or a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior. There is always hope and charity. The Great Teacher gave us many lessons and perhaps the greatest was that we ourselves are not the be all and end all. We must be humble. We must be forgiving. We must exhibit mercy. We must love on another,