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The natural condition of mankind Thomas Hobbes The idea for Hobbes was to try to see how humans would act without government, shown in 'The Natural Condition of Mankind'. From this, he felt that a truthful form of government could be justified. The book, "The Leviathan" (1651) was Hobbes's dissertation on what it meant to be human and how the state could best control them. Essentially, it raises a number of interesting and truthful points. However, there appears to be a number of inaccuracies which lead to some problems in Hobbes's political philosophy. In this essay, it will be shown what 'The natural Condition of mankind' is. Secondly, a number - but by no means exhaustive - of criticisms which demonstrate some flaws in his argument. Lastly, an evaluation of the usefulness of the argument. Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679) lived in a stormy period of English history. The most significant example being the English Civil war (1642 - 1648). Viewing Hobbes with this in mind, it is understandable that he sees humans pessimistically. Hobbes tries to show how he thinks humans would act without society, government or a code of moral values, this is called, 'The Natural Condition of Mankind' or 'The State of Nature'. From this version of mankind, Hobbes then explains how to govern correctly. Hobbes was a firm believer that the principles of geometry, the 'true' science, could be applied to politics and the result would be correct government. The only way, for Hobbes, to show the correct form of government is to break down what it means to be human and then build it back up, similar to breaking down a watch to understand 'what makes it tick'. In his introduction, Hobbes states, "For what is the Heart, but a Spring; and the Nerves, but so many Strings; and the joynts, but so many Wheeles, giving motion to the whole body," There are a number of criticisms that can be levelled at Hobbes, these fall in to two broad categories, external criticisms and internal