Natural Law According to Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was a prominent English philosopher whose views on natural law and political obligation laid the foundation for modern legal and political philosophy. His theory, developed primarily in his masterpiece Leviathan (1651), represents a realist and secular interpretation of natural law, distinct from the moral and theological perspectives of earlier thinkers such as Aristotle, Aquinas, or the Stoics.
Hobbes’s conception of natural law is closely linked to his understanding of human nature, the state of nature, and the social contract. While earlier philosophers viewed natural law as a moral or divine order guiding human conduct, Hobbes reinterpreted it as a set of rational principles for self-preservation and peace, discovered through human reason rather than divine revelation.

Background and Intellectual Context

Hobbes lived during a time of profound political turmoil in England, including the English Civil War. Witnessing chaos, violence, and civil strife, he became convinced that strong political authority was essential to maintaining peace and order.
Earlier thinkers, especially those from the Scholastic and Natural Law traditions (such as Thomas Aquinas), considered natural law as part of divine moral law, expressing what is objectively right or good. Hobbes, by contrast, detached natural law from divine morality, grounding it instead in human reason and self-interest.
His aim was to establish a rational foundation for political authority based on the necessity of peace and survival, rather than metaphysical or theological ideals.

The State of Nature

Hobbes begins his theory with a description of the state of nature — a hypothetical condition in which there is no government, no laws, and no authority to regulate human behaviour.
In this natural condition:

• Every individual possesses natural equality of ability and desire.
• Everyone has a natural right (jus naturale) to do whatever they deem necessary for their own preservation.
• There are no moral or legal constraints upon action.

However, this total freedom leads to conflict, as the desires and interests of individuals inevitably clash. Hobbes famously describes life in this condition as:

“Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

In the state of nature, there is no injustice, since right and wrong do not exist without law. Yet, because everyone’s natural right to everything leads to perpetual fear and insecurity, reason dictates that individuals must seek peace.

Hobbes’s Definition of Natural Law

In Leviathan, Hobbes defines natural law (lex naturalis) as follows:

“A precept or general rule found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life or taketh away the means of preserving the same.”

Thus, for Hobbes, natural law is a rule of reason aimed at self-preservation. It is not a moral command from God but a rational principle that instructs individuals how to act in order to secure their own survival and peace.
Natural law, in Hobbes’s sense, is not an enforceable law in the legal sense; rather, it is a moral or rational obligation binding in conscience, not by external authority.

Distinction Between Natural Right and Natural Law

Hobbes makes a crucial distinction between natural right (jus naturale) and natural law (lex naturalis):

• Natural Right: The freedom each individual has to use their power for self-preservation. It is a liberty to act as one pleases.
• Natural Law: A restriction on that liberty, imposed by reason, to ensure self-preservation through peace and cooperation.

In essence, natural right represents unlimited freedom, while natural law represents rational limitation on that freedom for the sake of mutual survival.

The Fundamental Laws of Nature

Hobbes identifies several laws of nature, discovered through reason, which guide individuals towards peace and social order. These are not divine commands but rational precepts for peaceful coexistence.

1. First Law of Nature — Seek Peace and Follow It: Every person ought to strive for peace as long as there is hope of obtaining it; when it cannot be achieved, they may use all means of defence.This law directs individuals to move from the state of war toward a peaceful condition.
2. Second Law of Nature — Mutual Surrender of Rights: For peace, individuals must agree to lay down their natural rights to all things and consent to limit their freedom, provided others do the same.This leads to the formation of covenants or social contracts — the foundation of civil society.
3. Third Law of Nature — Performance of Covenants: Individuals must honour their agreements; without this, covenants are meaningless, and peace cannot exist.This law introduces the principle of justice, as justice, according to Hobbes, means keeping valid covenants.

In total, Hobbes enumerates nineteen laws of nature, including principles of gratitude, modesty, equity, pardon, and impartiality. However, all these laws derive from the fundamental rule of self-preservation through peace.

Characteristics of Hobbesian Natural Law

• Rational Rather Than Divine: It arises from human reason and experience, not from God or nature’s moral order.
• Self-Interested and Practical: Its purpose is the preservation of life and peace, not the pursuit of moral virtue or eternal good.
• Conditional and Relative: The obligation to follow natural law depends on the expectation that others will do the same.
• Pre-Civil and Non-Enforceable: In the state of nature, natural laws are mere moral rules without external enforcement; they gain force only after the establishment of the sovereign power.

Relationship Between Natural Law and Civil Law

For Hobbes, civil law (law of the state) is the actual enforcement of natural law. While natural law provides the rational foundation, civil law provides the coercive power necessary for obedience.
Once the social contract is formed, individuals transfer their rights to a sovereign, who possesses absolute authority to maintain peace and order. The commands of the sovereign thus become the positive law, and obedience to them is necessary for survival and justice.
Therefore, Hobbes’s theory marks the transition from the natural law tradition to the legal positivist approach, where law derives its validity from the authority of the state rather than from morality.
As Hobbes wrote:

“The laws of nature are not properly laws until a common power enforce them.”

Comparison with Traditional Natural Law Theories

Criticism of Hobbes’s Theory

• Materialistic and Egoistic: Critics argue that Hobbes reduces natural law to self-preservation and ignores higher moral or spiritual values.
• Authoritarian Implications: By granting absolute power to the sovereign, Hobbes’s theory risks justifying tyranny and suppressing individual liberty.
• Inconsistency: Hobbes calls his principles “laws” but denies their legal force without a sovereign, creating a conceptual paradox.
• Neglect of Moral Dimension: Unlike Aquinas, Hobbes divorces natural law from moral or ethical duty, reducing it to a prudential guide.

Significance and Legacy

Despite criticism, Hobbes’s contribution to natural law and political theory is monumental. His reinterpretation of natural law achieved several important shifts:

• It secularised the concept, basing it on human reason rather than divine will.
• It linked natural law with political obligation and sovereignty, forming the foundation of social contract theory.
• It paved the way for modern legal positivism, by locating the authority of law in human institutions rather than moral ideals.