"Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all."
Today's Question
Is the force that keeps promises alive between humans 'pure trust' in each other, or the 'fear and disadvantage' that follows a violation?
The thinker who designed the state amidst exile and fear of war
Thomas Hobbes witnessed the bloodshed of the 17th-century English Civil War and spent his life in fear of war. He feared the absence of public power.
Publishing 'Leviathan' in 1651, he declared that without a strong state power, human society would enter a 'war of all against all' due to conflicting selfish desires. He pointed out that people keep covenants out of fear of punishment rather than conscience.