Hobbes And Aristotle: Human Being Rational By Nature

Oxford University defines reason as “explanation or justification for an action, an obvious cause to do something’ which in a way proves that ‘human being is rational by nature’. Reason holds a very important place or in other words, it is a basic means of human survival. Philosophers like Aristotle, who strongly believed that best lived life is life devoted to philosophy, which means, reason as a way of life and not simply as a kind of intellectual inquiry, because philosophy is the highest form of rational activity. In this essay, I will explore how does two of the greatest philosophers of their time, Hobbes (1588-1679) and Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC), treatment of reason differ from one another for their own argument. I will do so by examining their thoughts and ways of argument by taking few points of their argument And, also by giving a light picture of their argument before making and analysis and conclusion.

Hobbess, in Leviathan introduces the concept of power and man’s impatient appetite to achieve it. He exerts that the concept of a power is a man’s present mean to obtain some future good, as a ability to secure well-being for oneself and personal advantage. For Hobbes, power can be anything or everything, a physical ability to do something or taking advantage of your own position in society or anything which you use to gain some personal advantage is power in Hobbes concept. There is no specific definition for it but he categorizes power in two categories, ‘natural’