Yours is Mine and You are Mine

            In the Leviathan, Hobbes is extremely thorough with defining exactly what he means so the reader does no misinterpret his work. The first ten or so chapters read much like a dictionary and it is hard to disagree with what he says because he is simply giving definitions that all seem fairly logical. Once he breaks into religion and politics, he says many things that cause much contention between readers and Hobbes.

            One of the things that did not sit well with me was “every man has a Right to everything; even to one anothers body.” I can understand his point that man is fundamentally evil; Socrates and Glaucon in the Republic seem to show that this makes sense. But what I don’t agree with or understand is how that gives us a right another’s body. I understand his logic for material possessions: we are equal, therefore we think we deserve equally what others have, which means we have a “right” to take anything we want. But how does that apply to other humans? They are in the same position as us, and if I understand Hobbes right, are just bodies controlled by desires. How can another body led by desires possess another body led by desires?

            To me, this seems like it allows rape and murder to be something that is okay because it is our right to do what we want with another’s body. This section raises a lot of questions in mind if this is applied at a large scale.