Globalization considered from the point of view of Thomas Hobbes' 'image of man'

Abstract

'Homo homini lupus' - the image of man according to Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), described in detail in his famous political/philosophical work 'Leviathan' (1651), basically states that mankind is bad by nature. While this statement was already the subject of debate at that time, opinions on this undoubted philosophical provocation remain just as varied and irreconcilable. But is Hobbes' claim that mankind is by nature materialistic, deterministic, thirsty for glory, greedy, egotistical, resentful and cruel really such a provocative hypothesis, or does this theory actually gain in significance given the current financial and economic crisis - which, until recently, most people would have believed impossible? Does it perhaps help us better understand why the world could apparently 'come apart at the seams' from 1 day to the next, no longer appearing to be the same as it was not long ago, and why we have been rudely awakened from our most beautiful dreams of 'the best of all worlds'? What on earth has happened during recent weeks and months? It was all going so well with the blessings of globalization! The elimination of all economic borders, the free exchange of goods, freedom of action wherever one looked, consistently wonderful growth rates: the world is becoming one - affluence for all! Continuously falling unemployment levels worldwide (even the prospect of full employment), rising tax revenues, dwindling national debt - it was not just populations and companies that enjoyed the sunny sides of the 'globalization' drug; the state recovered, and its proud politicians announced that the times were changing - thanks to globalization. Was everyone just flying blind? Unrestricted euphoria while all early warning systems were switched off? Brainless and uncomprehending belief in the future? Or just a more or less insignificant setback, a minor industrial incident on the way to paradise? © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.