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 strength into right, and obedience into duty.”
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The social contract & discourses
Day 5 of 7
“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.”
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The social contract & discourses
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, The social contract & discourses
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