Sunday, December 4, 2011

I agree with Rebecca's point, and her argument about reason. Although Hobbes covered several other points of why humans can't coincide peacefully with one another, I believe reason is definitely one of the most important. Think about this: a king (or queen) of a nation institutes a law or rule that makes the majority of his people unhappy. This new restriction, made by the king, is completely tyrannical and oppressive. So oppressive, in fact, that it causes the people to revolt against their unfair leader and free themselves from his dictatorship. If they had not done so, they would have indefinitely suffered through years of hardship. Now, think about what would've happened if the people lacked the ability to reason. The blatant truth that their ruler was out of control and guided by a power-hungry craze never would've occurred to them. In this case, reason could be considered a good thing. However, there are many other scenarios and situations where the ability to reason could easily be considered a problem. Reasoning allows man to question other people and ideas. For the man of ill-will, it presents a vast opportunity to violate law and be dangerous to his fellow man.

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