Hobbes Blog Post - Walsh

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One of the most interesting aspects of Hobbes' Leviathan to me was his conception of freedom. What first got me thinking about this was when he writes, "there does not follow from it that misery which accompanies the liberty of particular men" (78). It struck me to hear misery as a description for freedom. When I imagine freedom from the government, my mind immediately thinks of it as a good thing. I often think of humans before government as pure and free. I imagine it as freedom from the burdensome constraints of social pressures and government laws. However, Hobbes believes that we basically lose everything if there is freedom from government. Hobbes' perspective is very convincing and I agree with him that there are many side effects to freedom.

This idea of the misery of freedom lead me to think about freedom in my own life, even if it isn't freedom from government. A concept that I have read about is how having too many choices can be a really bad thing for some people. In todays world, we have so many choices to make all of the time and things that are constantly trying to hold our attention. I wonder whether this abundance of freedom to make choices relates to Hobbes' negative connotation of freedom. Would people be happier if they had less freedom?

One part of Hobbes that isn't quite as relevant to the rest of the reading but is very interesting in its own right is the "Of Religion" chapter. I think he analyzes religion as a source of earthly power very well and how it can be used by governments to exploit its people and keep peace. Paragraph 21 details how governments can use religions to control people by blaming one's misfortunes on their own personal failures rather than on the government. This is still relevant today.

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