At the state of nature, according to Hobbes, men can do all things and, therefore, use all means to achieve them. According to this author, men are evil by nature (man is man's own wolf), for they possess unlimited power of violence.
A man imposes himself on another man only by force; ownership of any object cannot be shared or shared. At first, when there is dispute, competition and obtaining some good, force is used to conquer. Not being enough, since nothing guarantees the good enjoyment of the good, the conqueror uses force to maintain this good (he resorts to violence for the sake of the security of this good).
As a result of this good use of natural faculties (for the achievement of some good, the good use of reason, passion, experience and of physical strength), a reputation is formed that is nothing more than seeing expressed by others that evaluative acknowledgment that it gives itself (bragging). This recognition is also a cause of discord, because no man sees himself inferior to others and, therefore, violently imposes himself on others as superior.
Thus, and because of the little physical or intellectual difference between men in the natural state, Hobbes realizes that in this condition everything is possible, since there are no rules that prevent men from taking what belongs to others, nor that prevent them from inflicting suffering on the other. Every man is potentially a threat to another man and this is either passively or actively accepted. Passions are subjective and innumerable, but they all tend to a maximum end: the preservation of life and the suppression of pain. This allows for a relationship with others in a relationship of mutual help for the maintenance of this purpose. But still there are other relationships that have different ends. Even promoting a regulation that maintains the respect and the order, it is up to decide who will promote this regulation. This dispute that transcends the individual and encompasses groups of individuals, and which also sees in this domination a defense against the domination of others, is what characterizes the civil society. Here, the power of violence of each person is directed to a representative body that will use it to maintain the principle of preservation and peace.
It can be seen, then, that coexistence is not of good will, nor is it pleasant, but rather conventional, acceptable and tolerable, in which men are shelter, fleeing from that state of generalized war of all against all, highlighting the need to create the State, from a social contract which aims at the abdication of the unlimited power of each one and a redirection of that power (police power) for the maintenance of order and stability.
Therefore, for Hobbes, absolute freedom and the evidence of the potency of man's natural faculties trigger this distrust reciprocal and continuous, generating fear, which would justify the creation of an artifice to solve the internal disorders of a society. The great Leviathan, the State, is this human device capable of remedying these disorders. This is also how we understand the creation of laws. what is called juspositivism it is nothing more than the understanding that the natural law must be abolished, suppressed by the conventional, artificial order, invented by men with a view to a common good which is the preservation of life.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/hobbes-estado-natureza.htm