A Hobbesian Pandemic

Written by Leon Zadok – December 7, 2020

During the coronavirus pandemic, people across the globe have sat back and watched their Governments grasp for ever-greater control over their lives.

Citizens have been compelled to stay indoors for months. Businesses, schools, and other spaces have been told how to go about doing things. Many have been forced to sign up to digital surveillance programs. Social-distancing schemes and restrictions on movement have become a feature of every nation’s response to the pandemic. Collating all governments’ policies is folly. Suffice it to say, there has been an innumerable number of far-reaching powers introduced in response to COVID-19.

Given this willingness to allow governments so much authority, it is not surprising that there has been re-emerging interest in Thomas Hobbes’ The Leviathan, and the ideas therein.

In a Hobbesian world, governments contract with individuals to protect them. In return, they are obligated to do as the authority (The Leviathan) wishes. Written in 1651, The Leviathan has almost unrelenting authority over all aspects of its subject’s lives.

For Hobbes people form a ‘social contract’ with the state out of fear for, what Hobbes described as ‘the state of nature’ - a human existence outside the realm of organized society. Hobbes thought that “life in a state of nature would be nasty brutish and short”. Despite being a place of chaos and instability, he did recognize this elusive place as being one without the repressiveness and inequality of societies of the time. The state of nature was a realm of freedom and equality for mankind. The problem was, people were freely brutish and equally uncooperative.

Does Hobbes have something to offer our time? Are citizens across the globe adhering to, what some see as being, overreaching legal rules because they are afraid of the ‘state of nature’ - quite literally in this case?

Thomas Hobbes saw his fellow human beings as being selfish. They cooperated only for self-gain. Sadly, we may all have a COVID-19 story we can attach to this reductive summation of on the morality of the individual. As we become more aware of those most at risk, it has been interesting to see that those more likely to adhere regulations related to COVID-19 have been those least likely to die by its hand. This is true across the OECD.

Older citizens have reported growing levels of anxiety in many nations and there is growing resentment amongst certain sections of society toward others. Polls report differing responses to government measures. This can result in cleaving, otherwise cohesive, communities apart.

These reports and findings do not suggest that citizenry across the globe are coming together in goodwill, with an aligned understanding of what ‘needs to be done’. It would suggest to me that Hobbes is rearing his head once more, telling us to, ‘give up what’s left of our freedoms because, out there, the state of nature is waiting…somewhere’.

Resources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7474873/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/30/young-people-as-diligent-about-covid-measures-as-older-peers-survey-finds

Editor Comments - TJ Hyland - December 14, 2020

The world powers can be a scary concept because they are systems that have been in place longer than any human has been alive. We've created something bigger than ourselves. Seeing as this immense structure rules the lives of everyone, whether we believe in it or not, some might say it's bigger than God. That structure is our government. We all may disagree on what governing structure is the best or if one is necessary at all, and which one creates the most prosperity for all, or all who matter, but one thing is clear. There is not one living human on this planet that understands the nuance of all the different systems that govern our world.

We are interconnected in ways that make the internet seem rudimentary.