The Political Animal
From Aristotle to Hobbes, Rousseau and Kropotkin: why the state exists, where it gets the right to command, and whether nature dictates a war of all against all — or mutual aid.
Day 1 of 7
“Man is naturally a political animal.”
— Aristotle, Politics: A Treatise on Government
Day 2 of 7
“The condition of mere nature... is a condition of war of every man against every man.”
— Thomas Hobbes, The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11)
Day 3 of 7
“Covenants, without the Sword, are but Words, and of no strength to secure a man at all.”
— Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Day 4 of 7
“The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms his strength into right and obedience into duty.”
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du contrat social (Le contrat social)
Day 5 of 7
“The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land, took it into his head to say: This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society.”
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes
Day 6 of 7
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.”
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du contrat social (Le contrat social)
Day 7 of 7
“Mutual aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle.”
— Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution