On The Natural State Of Pufendorf-Comparison With Hobbes

On the one hand,Pufendorf agreed with Hobbes that the natural state is different from the original state in ancient and medieval times.This is not only the state that mankind has no country,no law,and no human skills and civilization,but also the starting point for mankind to enter the citizen state.On the other hand,Pufendorf accused Hobbes of blaspheming the natural state.First,Hobbes misunderstood human nature.The selfishness,which is the same as that of animals,leads to Hobbes’ s natural state,which is a state of war that is difficult for human beings to escape.Pufendorf criticizes Hobbes’ view of human nature,and man has sociality.Therefore,his natural state is a state of peace that can be divorced.In addition,Hobbes began to imagine the natural state with only one clock metaphor,while Pufendorf put forward an important concept as the premise of imagining the natural state,that is,moral entities.Last,Hobbes avoided the perfect state of the Middle Ages when writing about the natural state,while Pufendorf explained the relationship between the two.The first part of this paper will introduce Pufendorf’s life and works.Then explore the history of natural state.The first is the original state in ancient Greek mythology.Hesiod and Homer divided the era of mankind.The second is Lucretius of ancient Rome,who described the three stages of human beings in the theory of physical nature.The last category is the original state in the middle ages.Theologians connect the concept of natural state to the story of the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis.The nature of these three theories of natural state is different from that of modern natural state.The second part of this paper is to comment on the natural state of Hobbes and Pufendorf.Hobbes’ writing method is mainly decomposition synthesis method.Everyone in his natural state is roughly equal physically and mentally.After discussing the selfinterest of witnesses from the perspective of rational analysis,passionate nature and people’s life experience,he asserted that man’s natural state is "the state of war of all people against all people".Hobbes’ s natural state is difficult for human beings to get away from,because people are full of suspicion and competition.Pufendorf’s early writing method was the same as Hobbes,and the traditional method was added in the later stage.He believed that the natural state is a peaceful state,and explained three reasons why human beings are divorced from the peaceful natural state: first,people’s self-interest will make people calculate utilitarian;The second is that man’s abnormal self-interest leads to the natural state,which is actually an unstable and peaceful state;The third point is human sociality,which is the possibility that human beings can unite and break away from the natural state.The third part of this paper will analyze Pufendorf’s criticism of Hobbes’ s natural state.First of all,they affirmed the similar purpose of writing.The second is Pufendorf’s criticism of Hobbes’ s natural state.First,the important reason leading to the different conclusions of the two people’s natural state is the difference in the understanding of human nature.Hobbes only emphasizes people’s self-interest,while Pufendorf believes that people have sociality in addition to self-interest.Human sociality not only ensures that the natural state is a state of peace,but also the possibility for human beings to break away from the natural state and enter the civil state.Second,there is an important concept in Pufendorf’s philosophy of law,that is,moral entities.For human beings to live a better life,there is a moral model imposed by intelligent creatures.Compared with Hobbes’ clock metaphor,Pufendorf’s moral entities makes us imagine the natural state more vividly.The concept of moral entities is a premise for us to imagine the natural state.Third,in dealing with the relationship with the perfect state of the middle ages,although Hobbes’ s works refer to the Bible in a large amount of space,his natural state completely avoids the perfect state of the middle ages.While Pufendorf criticized Hobbes’ blasphemy,he reconciled the natural state with the perfect state of the middle ages However,his harmony also implies that his whole founding theory based on the natural state is independent of theology.