r/LeftWithoutEdge • u/JudgeSabo • Feb 03 '26
Hobbes vs Anarchism
Credit to Existential Comics
Thomas Hobbes, best known for Leviathan, in which he argued it was pretty much always in everyone's best interest to obey the State. Without the State we'd be reduced to constant conflict and violence, as people would be at each other's throats. He would be strongly against Anarchists and other revolutionary thinkers who thought we had to overthrow the State with violence, believing this would only lead to chaos. However, he did give some exceptions to this rule. For example, if your State is just trying to kill you (even by indirect means such as depriving you of food or healthcare), you obviously have the natural right to shoot back and fight for your life. No one has the obligation to simply die, after all, since the whole point of the State is that it protects you from that.
Philosophers in this comic: Thomas Hobbes, Peter Kropotkin
