Hobbesian

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Of or relating to the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes or his political theories ; describing a life or society that is harsh, brutal and dominated by competition
2. Connected with the thinking of Thomas Hobbes on government and human nature ; marked by a grim, brutish struggle in which everyone competes against everyone else
3. Pertaining to the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes ; characterized by a bleak, violent and self-interested state of nature where life is nasty and short

Etymology: Thomas Hobbes, the seventeenth-century English philosopher, gave his name to a way of seeing human life. In Leviathan, he pictured the state of nature as a condition of constant competition in which each person pursued their own interests without restraint, and life was, in his famous phrase, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." The adjective "Hobbesian" is simply the surname with the suffix "-ian," the same ending that turns a place or person into an adjective, as in "Lockean" or "Kantian." The word therefore names a pessimistic view of human nature and the social order that ought to restrain it. Something described as Hobbesian is harsh, self-interested, and uncivilised, with people competing ruthlessly and order maintained only by a strong authority. The label is used of politics, economics, and even fiction that depicts a world stripped of mercy.