PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Western Political Thought
Comment on the State of Nature as State of War (Hobbes) in 150 words
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
state of nature = hypothetical pre-political condition → no common power, law or judge → therefore a state of war start from human nature → equality to harm/kill + scarcity + endless desire → war is the natural result
Body flow
no common authority → natural equality of vulnerability + scarcity + unlimited desire → everyone athreat toeveryone → three causes of quarrel: competition, diffidence, glory → “war of every man against every man" → war as known disposition, not actual fighting → consequences: no justice/industry/arts → force and fraud become virtues → life "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"
Counter-view
war is not perpetual battle → it is the known disposition to violence while no assurance of safety exists → qualifies "state of war" without reducing its danger
Conclusion routes
self-preservation impossible in this condition → security requires a common coercive power order placed before unrestrained liberty → all judgement surrendered to the Leviathan
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
