l (126). In applying this doctrine, Hobbes evaluates objects or actions as good or evil based on desires and aversions. Objects are not intrinsically good but are good because people perceive them as such. Morality is thus decided rather than set by God or other higher authority. The determination of what is moral in society is governed by Hobbes's view of the nature of society. Hobbes saw the individual as governed by human nature, and human nature he saw as selfish and egoistic. The individual is completely preoccupied with his or her own personal desires. In the natural state, the state of humankind before coming together in a society, the equality humans share in terms of physical and metal powers leads to intense competition which prevents individuals from achieving happiness. Society is a voluntary collective organization brought into being to counter this reality and to create a better environment in which individuals can satisfy their desires. The state that is produced is a commonwealth when the mass of human beings agree to being represented by the government formed. The establishment of such a social organization is a necessary condition for morality to be instituted, and morality is determined by the sovereign, who in turn derives power from the people. Therefore, morality is what civil law and authority says it is (127-128). The moral action is therefore "decided" by society in the very process of becoming a society and demonstrating that what is in accord with the law is right and what deviates from the law is wrong.
Hobbes thus develops an ethics that is relative to the society in which the individual resides. How a society makes this determination differs because human beings differ in terms of their specific desires and views, and the collective will therefore have somewhat different views of morality. What human beings desire, they are said to love, just as they hate those things to which they are av...