To this war of every man against every man this also is consequent, thatnothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice,have there no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law; whereno law, no injustice. Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues. Justiceand injustice are none of the faculties neither of the body nor mind. If they were,they might be in a man that were alone in the world, as well as his senses andpassions. They are qualities that relate to men in society, not in solitude. It isconsequent also to the same condition that there be no propriety, no dominion,no ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ distinct, but only that to be every man’s that he can get,and for so long as he can keep it. And thus much for the ill condition which manby mere nature is actually placed in, though with a possibility to come out of it,consisting partly in the passions, partly in his reason.13The passions that incline men to peace are fear of death, desire of such thingsas are necessary to commodious living, and a hope by their industry to obtainthem. And reason suggesteth convenient articles of peace, upon which menmay be drawn to agreement. These articles are they which otherwise are calledthe Laws of Nature, whereof I shall speak more particularly in the two followingchapters.

But, though there had never been any time wherein particular men were in acondition of war one against another, yet in all times kings and persons ofsovereign authority, because of their independency, are in continual jealousiesand in the state and posture of gladiators, having their weapons pointing, andtheir eyes fixed on one another, that is, their forts, garrisons, and guns, upon thefrontiers of their kingdoms, and continual spies upon their neighbours: which isa posture of war. But because they uphold thereby the industry of their subjects,there does not follow from it that misery which accompanies the liberty ofparticular men.12

So that in the nature of man we find three principal causes of quarrel. First,competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory.6The first maketh man invade for gain; the second, for safety; and the third, forreputation. The first use violence, to make themselves masters of other men’spersons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, fortrifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of undervalue,either direct in their persons or by reflection in their kindred, their friends, theirnation, their profession, or their name.7Hereby it is manifest that, during the time men live without a common power tokeep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war, and such awar as is of every man against every man. For ‘war’ consisteth not in battle onlyor the act of fighting, but in a tract of time wherein the will to contend by battle issufficiently known, and therefore the notion of ‘time’ is to be considered in thenature of war, as it is in the nature of weather. For as the nature of foul weatherlieth not in a shower or two of rain but in an inclination thereto of many daystogether, so the nature of war consisteth not in actual fighting but in the knowndisposition thereto during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. Allother time is ‘peace.’8

And, as to the faculties of the mind, setting aside the arts grounded uponwords and especially that skill of proceeding upon general and infallible rulescalled science, which very few have and but in few things, as being not a nativefaculty born with us, nor attained, as prudence, while we look after somewhatelse, I find yet a greater equality amongst men than that of strength. Forprudence is but experience, which equal time equally bestows on all men inthose things they equally apply themselves unto. That which may perhaps makesuch equality incredible is but a vain conceit of one’s own wisdom, which almostall men think they have in a greater degree than the vulgar, that is, than all menbut themselves, and a few others whom by fame or for concurring withthemselves they approve. For such is the nature of men that, howsoever theymay acknowledge many others to be more witty or more eloquent or morelearned, yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves, forthey see their own wit at hand and other men’s at a distance. But this provethrather that men are in that point equal than unequal. For there is not ordinarily agreater sign of the equal distribution of anything than that every man iscontented with his share.2

prudence

Felicity

infallible

Psycho-analytic

digression

on the contrary,human beings exhibit an inborn tendency to carelessness, irregularity and unreliability in their work, andthat a laborious training is needed before they learn to follow the example of their celestial models

Happiness, however, is something essentially subjective. No matter how much we mayshrink with horror from certain situations -of a galley-slave in antiquity, of a peasant during the Thirty Years'War, of a victim of the Holy Inquisition, of a Jew awaiting a pogrom -it is nevertheless impossible for us tofeel our way into such people -to divine the changes which original obtuseness of mind, a gradual stupefyingprocess, the cessation of expectations, and cruder or more refined methods of narcotization have producedupon their receptivity to sensations of pleasure and unpleasure. Moreover, in the case of the most extremepossibility of suffering, special mental protective devices are brought into operation. It seems to meunprofitable to pursue this aspect of the problem any further.

It seems certain that we do not feel comfortable in our present-day civilization, but it is very difficult to forman opinion whether and in what degree men of an earlier age felt happier and what part their culturalconditions played in the matter

unequivocal

enumerate

We shall nevercompletely master nature; and our bodily organism, itself a part of that nature, will always remain atransient structure with a limited capacity for adaptation and achievement. This recognition does nothave a paralysing effect. On the contrary, it points the direction for our activity. If we cannot remove allsuffering, we can remove some, and we can mitigate some:

transient

antiessentialis

antideterminist

assimilated

. Atheory of communicative action conceives individual identity not as a·n origin: but as.. a product of linguistic and practical interaction

arbitrariness

Many people in the United States would not choose the term "oppression" to name injustice in our society.