Women are in the Same State of Nature as Men

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Women live in the same state of nature as men

Hobbes' understanding of human nature and the state of nature is not gender-biassed. Although his syntax is male oriented, I believe that Hobbes thought of men and women as having the same nature. That is, in the absence of an authority figure, both sexes would have a "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" (316) life. I propose that Hobbes' "three principal causes of quarrel. First, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory" (316), apply in both the nature of man and woman. There will be disorder from either of the sexes exhibiting competition, diffidence and glory. Why, according to Hobbes, should women expect as miserable a life as men should? Women's aspirations today to fulfill traditional female roles and a desire to be as successful as men impel women to competition, diffidence and glory.

In considering competition as a factor giving rise to conflict in a disorganized state of nature, Hobbes had in mind persons obtaining the resources they wanted by overcoming anyone who stood in the way. The goal for 'man' is to gain whatever is necessary to hold the upper hand and disadvantage any competitors for those resources. The g

that she wants to mess up x's happiness. Women compete with men for jobs because they want to be as successful as men are in the workplace. One runs the risk of being made a fool of today to assume that your surgeon, lawyer or pilot will turn out to be a male. Women are breaking the stereotypes of the workplace. Even though women are more successfully competing with men to obtain their share of the rewards for paid work, there exists inequality among women due to the expanding demand for highly skilled workers. The widening gap between high and low-skilled workers is not a phenomenon reserved to males. Women have to compete with each other to secure a decent share of society's wealth. The workplace for many women, as for men, could be characterized as poor, nasty and brutish. The competition for advancement is often settled on the whim of superiors and is not the result of objective assessment of performance. Those women who have mastered the skill of exploiting their!

Hobbes. "The Leviathan." Classics in Political Philosophy. Ed. Jene M. Porter. Scarborough: Prentice Hall Canada Inc., 1989.

To those who argue that Hobbes could not have had women in mind in developing his theories because their motivation is different from men, I would respond that women can live in the same state of nature as men even if for different reasons. Different motivation does not necessarily change behaviour. Both women and men act aggressively in resolving competition, diffidence and glory. At present, women are engaged more in achieving equality than preserving it. Men are not striving to be equal with women because they already have the largest share of the resources available and their biggest concern is with protecting what they already have. What about the argument that the nature of women differs from that of men and Hobbes would have understood this. In terms of human nature, there is likely little difference between men and women. Hobbes believed that man was not a social a

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Category: Politics