PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Western Political Thought
“How would I and my fellow human beings behave if we were to find ourselves state of nature, and what does this behaviour tell us about our innate predispositions?” (Thomas Hobbes)
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 condition → remove common power → behaviour exposes innate nature start from man as matter in motion → self-preservation + fear — nature read off behaviour
Body flow
appetite /aversion, self-preservation, fear → rough equality + scarcity → three causes of quarrel: competition, diffidence, glory → eachathreattoall → war of every man against every man – “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" → not wickedness but restless desire for power "ceasing only in death" → against Aristotle's natural sociability → guilt removed from selfishness, a fact of nature
Counter-view
Locke & Rousseau reject the pessimism → human nature not so bleak
Conclusion routes
behaviour mirrors innate nature: fear + self-preservation, not depravity such a nature can be held in check only by a common power
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
