In his seminal work of political philosophy Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes described a chaotic and violent world in the so-called ‘state of nature’ before the establishment of social and political structures. His famous characterisation of the “life of Man” in this world as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” has been quoted endlessly over the years. In an earlier work covering similar ground, De Cive Hobbes talks of “Bellum omnium contra omnes”, the ‘war of all against all’ as a feature of this condition. This is a thought experiment rather than a history: Hobbes isn’t suggesting a specific time in when these conditions were in place, rather he is postulating what living in a world without a “common Power” could be like. (Interestingly, studies of hunter-gatherer skeletons seem to suggest that widespread violence was a feature of primitive human societies, so Hobbes’s theoretical framework might also be reasonably accurate).
None of this has much to do with modern warfare, which was the subject of my discussion with Mike Martin in this podcast episode. But if you listen to the end of the episode you’ll hear that Mike touches on the risks of widespread agglomeration of conflict into a global-level war.
Have a listen!
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