Philosopher's Dog: Mindfuck

February 24, 2012

notoriousamarius:

philosophersdog:

Thomas Hobbes’ social contract theory is often presented as a group of people agreeing to forfeit some of their freedoms for the sake of bettering their life in one way or another (not getting killed, their land taken… etc.). But, in fact, Hobbes’ never claims that a person must give up some of…

I don’t get this, what’s the difference between giving up freedom and giving up rights?

For the life of me I can’t find the example that Hobbes uses to explain this, but I think I can remember it well enough to restate it:

A man is on a boat that is about to sink and the only way the boat can stay afloat for a while longer is if some cargo is thrown over the side. Now, if someone else were to throw the man’s cargo overboard, the man would not be free. But, in throwing his own cargo over, the man is acting freely.

This is what a social contract is like for Hobbes. Though the man gives up the right to keep his stuff (if he didn’t, the boat would sink and he would die), he freely chooses to throw his stuff overboard. The man would only not be free if someone where to do it for him—this is not what happens in Hobbes’ social contract. In Hobbes’ social contract, people freely choose to be a part of the contract and freely choose to give up their right to kill someone (or steal… etc.). They are free the whole time.

I heard a somewhat similar argument from Zizek in an interview once (at least, I think it’s similar, from what I can tell here). He talked about how social bodies always involve giving up a freedom, but that doing so can be good - both for ourselves and the social body at large.

For example, when I’m born into American society, I give up freedoms like collecting my own water resources or the freedom to hunt my own food*, but this giving up of a freedom allows me the free time and the energy to devote myself to other personal interests, interests that couldn’t be pursued if this larger social apparatus weren’t in place.

*Of course, you can still do this, but it requires a lot of circumventing of current social practices (the whole isolationist ‘living in a hut in the woods to escape the terror of society’ thing). The point is that you give up some rights or freedoms in order to pursue more of them that aren’t available without the larger social fabric.

Again, love Hobbes.

8:33am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZAjNTyGyMLcB

(Notes: 10)