GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

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POLITICS
with which he endows his ruler. The contract, says Hobbes,
once made is irrevocable, and the powers with which the
ruler is invested art, therefore, since they flow from the
contract, inalienable. He can delegate them, but he cannot
relinquish them or be deprived of them. But why can he
not? Because, says Hobbes, men have contracted to obey
him, realizing that, only if they do, can they be assured of
that security, for the sake of which they formed society.
For his subjects to disobey the ruler or for the ruler to
relinquish his power is, therefore, to break the contract and
to bring society, which derives from the contract, to an end.
This conclusion seems to be open to two objections:
(a) the premises upon which it is based are unsound;
(b) the conclusion does not follow from the premises.
(a) That Hobbes's premises are unsound has already
been suggested. It is not the case that men are purely self-
interested or that they are concerned only to pursue their
own pleasure; nor is it the case, as Hobbes seems to think,
that the desire for order and security dominate them to
the exclusion of all other desires. The most casual study
of history should have convinced him that this was not
the case. History shows that there are many things for
the sake of which men will abandon security. There are
evils which seem to them so appalling that they will break
the peace in order to be rid of them; injustices which
they will fight and die to remove. The whips of despotism,
says Hobbes, are always better than the scorpions of
anarchy, and, knowing this, men will put up with the
whips. But this would not necessarily be true, even if
they thought that the alternative to the despotism was
anarchy, and in feet they never do so think. Hobbes, in
short, overlooks the obvious consideration that men who
are persecuted or feel themselves to be victims of injustice
may revolt It is this simple psychological error which
makes nonsense of his contention that the power of the
ruler is inalienable 3i*d cannot be withdrawn.
If Hobbes is right, justice, the will of the ruler, and the
law of the State are one and the same thing. Hobbes does