Hsün Tzu (298–238 bc): Human Nature is Evil

Abstract

Western thinkers have proposed various images to represent the nature of man and the different forms of governments which provide justice and ensure survival. For instance, Hobbes (1588–1679) believed that human beings are by nature free and self-interested. He advocated a principle whereby all people, not just the rich and well born, have equal rights to liberty. Everyone is entitled to as much liberty in gratifying his desires as he is willing to allow others in gratifying theirs. But Hobbes believed that because of the conflicts of self-interest among individuals, the state of nature is a state of war. According to Hobbes, since human beings are rational and self-interested, to maintain peace and ensure survival, each individual would agree to sacrifice his freedom and be content to follow the laws of a sovereign whose main responsibility would be to maintain order. Although he anticipated many of the major principles that went into the founding of the American republic, Hobbes was not a believer in democracy and did not place a high value on personal liberty. For him a good government exists to provide efficiency, law, order and the preservation of the peace.

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.

Shakespeare