Hobbes' Concept of Representation

Thomas Hobbes is famous for saying that in a state of nature, everyone would be at war with everyone else, "and the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short" (p. 186). Hobbes did not really think that this state of nature had ever happened in the past. It was instead what he believed would happen if there were no government, and more or less what happened in a civil war, or when government completely broke down.

Thus, Hobbes believes that government is necessary to keep from living in constant danger, struggle, and violence. But how does government come about? Hobbes suggests it comes about by a sort of contract or agreement that people make, to let someone (or some group of people) have complete authority over all of them. To explain this, he talks about contracts, or what he calls covenants.

In everyday speaking, we use "person" to mean any individual human being. But "person" also has another meaning, which is what Hobbes uses. "A person is he whose words or actions are considered, either as his own, or as representing the words or actions of an other man, or of any other thing to whom they are attributed, whether Truly or by Fiction" (p. 217). A "person," then, is someone who can say or do things. He may speak or act for himself or herself, or for someone else.

Speaking or acting for someone else is what Hobbes means by "representation." A lawyer may represent me in court, speaking to

Related Essays

Analysis of Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan .... The real meaning, however, presumes a representation of eternal .... in today's world than it was in Hobbes's. The public's concept of God once fairly uniform now .... (979 4 )

Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan .... The real meaning, however, presumes a representation of eternal .... in today's world than it was in Hobbes's. The public's concept of God once fairly uniform now .... (979 4 )

Role of Legislators in the US .... legislators as agents and legislators as representatives, the realities of constituent representation under the .... Thomas Hobbes contributed the concept of a .... (2908 12 )

James Madison's Political Theory .... Rather, Hobbes viewed political law as the .... should have unlimited sovereignty." This concept implies that .... Gibson, A. "Impartial Representation and the Extended .... (2169 9 )

Political Philosophy of James Madison .... Rather, Hobbes viewed political law as the .... should have unlimited sovereignty." This concept implies that .... Gibson, A. "Impartial Representation and the Extended .... (2174 9 )

d by one actor, their representative. "For it is the Unity of the Representer, not the Unity of the Represented, that maketh the Person One" (p. 220). Just as a group of individuals -- even a "multitude" of them -- can become one "person" if they have a representative, the representative can also be more than one individual. All that is required is that they speak with a single voice. A committee, for example, can be a "person" if it has rules that allow it to reach a decision that is binding on the whole committee. Typically, to Hobbes, this would be by majority rule: "If the Representative consist of many men, the voyce of the greater number, must be considered as the voyce of them all" (p. 221). To summarize this part of what Hobbes says, a "person" is capable of making binding decisions. A "representative" makes those decisions on behalf of others, who are bound by them. A representative can represent a group of many individuals. A representative can also itself be a group, so long as the group (such as a committee) can reach decisions, and speak or act as a unit. This part of Hobbes' discussion seems to be much the same as how the legal system works. An individual can have a lawyer to represent him or her, and

Category: Philosophy - H