Many philosophers describe the world as being dichotomous, beginning by Plato and his concept of Idea. Hobbes contemporary Descartes divides the world into res cogitans and res extensa, with the last one as the physical world and the first one as the metaphysical one. Hobbes disagrees. After reading Greek sophists, especially Thukydides, he developed a strong commitment to the concepts of natural law and the philosophy of might. To him everything can be described mechanically with human mind and conscience not as entities superior to physical nature, but as belonging and being subordinated to it.
This theory is called Sensualism, as opposed to Metaphysics. It rejects the idea of metaphysical concepts and reduces the world to its appearance. Sensualism leads to Nominalism, which interprets names not as explanation of ideas, but as pure description of the perception; names are randomly chosen and not because of a deeper, everlasting sense within them.
For Hobbes there is no free will; man is an animal, and his intelligence and conscience isn’t based on a higher principle but on pure matter, i. e. Sensualism. Man is a captive of his own mechanic instincts and drive. His so called “moral” perception isn’t based on morality, but only on what seems opportune to him. As a conclusion morality is just a human concept based on material needs. Man’s central motivation is egoism, and so is science’s. In consequence, religion is a means of egoism.
Hobbes view of man derives from his view of state: in the beginning every person was equal with equal rights, unlimited by law and morality. This causes every man to be able to hurt any other and vice versa. Naturally, this state is unpleasant; though that situation may be called “rule of natural law”, but Hobbes stated that this natural is as good as no law at all. He describes the situation as “bellum omnium contra omnes” (“war of everyone against everyone”).
To prevent this war the need of peace evolves. Peace shall be secured by pacts, which summons another principle: the need of keeping the compacts.
Hobbes enumerates as many as fifteen laws of nature:
At first glance this principles seem to establish the classical idea of morality, but to Hobbes morality isn’t an end in itself or a higher, e. g. religious, imperative, but based on egoism, as law number one states. Only if men observe that natural laws they will be able to live in peace; observing the laws leads into the highest possible personal benefit.
In consequence man abandons some rights and gives them over to the state which makes the state guarantee peace: by reducing one’s own freedom everyone is given more freedom. So far this idea isn’t new; Hobbes adds the idea of the almighty state which has the right to rule everything and rulers being free to do anything they consider necessary to the state without being obligated to the individual citizen. According to Hobbes the state shall be the only source of morality, rights and religion; there shan’t be any freedom of conscience, which would be leading into perturbations within the people.
This concept of state assures peace within the states, but displaces the problem of bellum omnium contra omnes from individuals to wars between the states.
Hobbes central thesis is that profit and might both at individuals and at whole states are the driving power. He denies the Aristotelian view on man as ??? p???t???? and reduces his commitment to society to a merely egoistic act, driven not by sociability but by the search for personal benefit.