Thomas Hobbes undertakes to strive, in his writings, to constitute a state of order and peace. In his book Leviathan – where we find the foundation of the ideas we have studied from Hobbes – Hobbes attempts to understand what is the purpose of the state, civil society and the nature of each. Hobbes was born in England at a time when English society thrived on discord – civil and international wars engulfed England during this time. So it's almost as if Hobbes' wartime experience led him to attempt to create a state of order and peace. Through Hobbes's writings, we can determine that his views on humans are rather pessimistic; according to him, humans are naturally evil. Hobbes states that humans, in essence, seek their own self-interest; furthermore, humans are not guided by reason but by passion. In the state of nature, humans are allowed to do and take what they want or need, based on each individual's self-interest; thus natural law, which is considered a constant state of conflict and war. Humans in the state of nature tend to view each other as potential inflictors of suffering – each is seen as a potential murderer, in extreme cases. That being said, each individual seeks more power, it is their own interest, out of fear of each other; this then leads surrounding individuals to seek more power themselves, always within the framework of their personal interest, for their own salvation. The most powerful passions adopted by humans are the fear of death and the desire for power. Thus, the mentioned struggle for power ultimately leads to death – to war – because it is impossible to establish harmonious permanence. This leads to the cycle and the struggle for...... middle of paper ......ests. Hobbes forgets to see the depth that subjective nature can reach, the same depth that he himself portrayed through his books. Although he asserts that religion is the foundation of morality, Hobbes sees human nature as the source of morality, that is, a force that his writings possess. Basically because it gives humans more control over their individual will. This may not be such a good thing in Hobbes' mind: he claims that humans are naturally evil. I appreciate this idea in a different sense; humans are the sole creators of religion and any idea or superstition they follow, so they must be the source of morality. Another strength of self-interest as a measure of right action is that it links the goal and the moral standard, because the individual's self-interest must be linked to both the goal and the standard..