Hobbes’s understanding of human nature establishes the foundations for his political philosophy by explaining the essence of conflict (in the state of nature) and cooperation (in a commonwealth). Because human beings will always pursue what is ‘good’ for them, this philosophy asserts that individuals share overarching desires or goals, such as security and safety (especially from death). This is the point in which Hobbes’s moral and political philosophy intersect: in “our shared conception of ourselves as rational agents”. It is rational to “pursue the necessary means to our dominant shared ends”, in which case the “necessary means” is submission to a sovereign authority. By establishing morality as a force which directs individuals towards their shared desires and goals of, for example, peace and security, and the means to achieve these goals is through the creation of a state, Hobbes grounds his political philosophy in his moral thought. This approach to moral philosophy is executed by Hobbes through discussion of a range of interrelated moral concepts: “good, evil, rights, obligation, justice, contract, covenant and natural law”.
