Government and Human Nature

This week's philosophy lesson included views on government as well as human nature. We learned about Hobbes and Rousseau, who both agreed that government was a necessity, but had opposing opinions on why. Hobbes believed that humans are naturally selfish and at war with one another and that government is used to restrain the worst aspects of our nature. For Hobbes, government is justified only by the bad effects of letting humans make their own choices. Rousseau viewed humans as being naturally at peace with one another and government is supposed to bring us back to the nature of our being. He believed that the goals of government are to provide quality and freedom for everyone and to help us remake our nature. I agree with both Hobbes and Rousseau that we need to have some form of government in order to keep us all accountable for our own actions, but I don't agree with the reasonings of either. Government is not going to solve the problem of the sinful nature of human beings. If we are going to become a world that is at peace, we need something greater than a monarchy or a democracy. We cannot rely on our government to make this world a peaceful place. We need to hold ourselves accountable before we can expect others to do the right thing. This is a collaborative effort and the government is set up to support and guide this effort. It is our job to spread peace and look out for one another if we expect to survive in this world.