Thomas Hobbes held offered a comprehensive account of man's obligations which drew upon his theory of human nature. This essay will answer a series of questions focused on Hobbes' approach to moral obligation, rights in the state of nature and civil society, reason and justice. Hobbes' (p. 98) emerge from his contention that in nature, men are equal, but in society this equality often diminishes in the interests of order, stability and justice. Hobbes (p. 98 argued that nature made men so generally equal that the difference between man and other men is not so considerable that one man could claim any benefit that could not be claimed equally by others. Hobbes (p. 98) also made the case that from equality of ability arises diffidence or the determination of one man to acquire for himself desirable goods, status, or power that is also sought by others. From diffidence comes war and the pursuit of glory. These are human rather than moral rights in Hobbes' formulation.
Hobbes (p. 99 also states that men should be allowed to acquire dominion over others. Men are inclined to peace in this philosopher's view by the fear of death, the desire of those things necessary to commodious living, and the hope that their industry will help them obtain such things. He further (p. 103) contended that men pursue liberty or the absence of external impediments. However, justice demands that men accommodate one another; justice becomes a social or civil strategy for maintaining harmo
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