A Comparison of Between the Views of Thomas Hobbes and Hannah Ardent Regarding Human Nature

Thomas Hobbes in his piece of work describes why human beings qualify to be called animals. On the other hand, Hannah Arendt counters this argument and tries to justify that indeed human beings differ from animals. Therefore, the most important question under study is, does man differ in any way from animals. In my opinion Thomas Hobbes best describes human nature when compared to Hannah Arendt.

Hannah Arendt describes how individuality gets killed under totalitarian rule. Human beings cannot use their original ideas to develop new things since their movements and steps attract carefully monitoring from the government (Arendt, 1).

The administration fears independent thinkers since they might fail to submit in the near future if left to prosper. Thus, individuals have no right to make use of their talents towards bringing change without the authorization of the totalitarian rule an indication of the total violation of human rights intellectual property.

Under totalitarianism moral person get murdered and the juridical person gets permanently damaged.

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That implies that the legal and justice system under totalitarianism does not function due to intentional sabotage by those in leadership to gain total control of power. The legal system gets coined to work in favour of the ruling government and judiciary get instruction from above on how to prosecute without following the people's constitution. Thus, the citizens get suppressed to submit to the government and those found to be vibrant get false accusations that lead to torture to intentionally silence them (Arendt, 1). Thus, the rule ensures that human beings only exist like marionettes without any logic to the extent of being compared to dogs in Pavlov's experiment in terms of their behaviour.

The Strong character appears as a threat to the totalitarian rule since it signifies opposition to the existing. Such character gets curtailed immediately, and the government aims at making all men superfluous (Arendt, 2). That aims at making men believe they are redundant by accepting to undergo tough punishment that has no any basis of crime. Men also get exploited in serving interests of the rulers without gaining in any way, furthermore men work like slaves where they work but never allowed to enjoy the products. Thus, the ruling authorities make the general living conditions of their subject unbearable so that they can only look at the totalitarian leadership as their saviour. P

eople get brainwashed from participating in major development projects that can help them and their generations, instead citizens believe that only the government has the right of undertaking such projects. Those with daring spirits to cause change and bring light to the society through innovative ideas get discouraged and sabotaged by the same government purporting to defend interests of the ordinary citizen (Arendt, 3). The totalitarian government allocates all beneficial resources to itself to have more economic power so as to gain total control of the nation.

The absolute form of government acts illogical and all its steps make little or no sense at all. Tough and terrible things happen, for instance; vermin inmates get killed or poisoned since they are assumed to contaminate the entire population if left to continue living. Those who adapt to the slavery way of life cannot be educated since they might change and oppose the government.

Totalitarianism has eroded human dignity. Where by human beings cannot access the opportunity to transform the world they live in due to the fear of losing control by their respective governments (Arendt, 4). The system has only managed to change the human nature negatively, in such a way that human beings lack the capacity to make independent decisions concerning their lives. Human beings adapt to living in fear of the government that abuses their rights. Camps act as laboratories for performing such for testing change in human nature.

Nazis of Russia and Bolsheviks demonstrated how the destruction of human rights and manipulation of the constitution has been used to advance the totalitarian form of leadership across the globe. It makes human beings look like real animals with no sense to reject what affects them negatively but rather submit blindly and perish over an extended period. The control rotates around the social, political and economic life and makes things more terrible.

Thus, Hannah Arendt contradicts herself by saying that human beings are more than animals. In her piece of work totalitarianism has made human life miserable, careless death, no freedom to develop individual talent and above all lack of legal framework to challenge the illegal actions of the ruling government. All these pathetic conditions make humans similar to animals (Arendt, 5). People have adapted to the system and just like animals don't question what they think to be wrong in assumption that the totalitarian government has the right to do what it pleases.

On the other hand, Thomas Hobbes describes human beings as selfish. According to him human beings struggles for own for their selfish interests. Thus, they pretend to be solving public issues but in real sense they pursue their course so as to amass wealth and be in a position to gain power (Hobbes, 140). Hobbes points out that just like animals all men are equal and can kill each other at any particular time, and the desire to be secure makes them look up to the government for protection.

Hobbes further explains how man struggles to accumulate power and eventually use it in setting prices for commodities. Once in power a human being will use it to set prices of goods so as to regulate product movement in terms of supply and demand. All these aim at safeguarding personal interests in the market at the expense of the entire population (Hobbes, 141). Human beings misuse the power and set exorbitant prices such that the poor cannot access the essential commodities. While there exists plenty of products, some people end up perishing from hunger and poverty-related problems.

It so happens because selfish leaders who control factors of production are busy making themselves rich without considering that human beings cannot be equal at any one particular time (Hobbes, 142). Such scenarios reflect human beings as animals and no human beings since their desire for power and resources comes first before the lives of other human beings. This act can only best compare to wild animals that fight for survival in the jungle by feeding on fellow animals.

According to Hobbes, nothing holds together human beings apart from personal interests. Thus, men get bonded when participating in an activity that benefits both of them and part once the deal gets executed (Hobbes, 143). Thus, men can be described better by looking at Commonwealth nations that come together to implement certain economic policies that benefit them for a particular period and engage in economic wars once the agreement period expires. That implies that just like animals men's communal membership lasts only shortly depending on what he reaps at that moment.

The man mainly focuses on getting more power and not safeguarding human rights of those putting him to power (Hobbes, 144). Those in leadership positions go to the extent of preventing the electorates from participating in crucial affairs of public management. That aims at denying the citizens their positions in the society and disconnecting them from each other to create disunity so that the greedy rulers can continue to exploit innocent citizens with little criticism.

The disconnection creates unease and prompts unnecessary completion among the citizens. In the society with such unfairness, only a few citizens that pledge loyalty to greedy leaders get access to rare chances in government and hence success depends on political allegiance rather than creativity and innovation. State opportunities get allocated to a few meaning that many competent citizens get locked out of fair competition intentionally. Thus, talents and skills of those perceived to be in opposition go to waste since they never get a chance to apply them (Hobbes, 145). Those given opportunities get identified as lucky and hence honoured in the society while those locked out from accessing opportunities get are associated with bad luck and hence embarrassed in public. Thus, human beings just like animals fail to appreciate efforts of each other.

Hobbes also explains how the less fortunate get abandoned under the capitalist regime. Those in leadership have more than excess and have no intentions of creating opportunities for the poor to thrive. Instead, they view the poor as criminals and potential robbers who can rob them of their properties at any particular time (Hobbes, 146). Eventually, they engage in criminal acts so as to earn a living and end up being rejected by the society. The state completely neglects its people and subjects them to oppression.

Conclusion

Thomas Hobbes's analysis best describes human nature compared to Hannah Arendt's analysis because in both studies human beings behave in ways aimed at only benefitting themselves. They end up acting like animals despite having the reasoning capacity that can make them make things better. Hannah Arendt's analysis contradicts itself by defending human behaviour as being different from that of animals yet the analysis reveals pathetic acts carried out by human beings against one another just for selfish gain.

The truth depicts that human beings don't care about what happens to their colleagues provided their interests succeed as expected. That has resulted in many social problems that lack answers. For instance, social security has deteriorated to the extent that human beings can murder each other just to get and retain power. Furthermore even accessing power men still use power to benefit themselves and oppress their opponents making them look exactly like animals that only care about themselves.