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The Library
of Alexandria

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, Chapter 15 summary

Chapter 15 of 65 · Part 1: Of Man · 21 min to read the chapter

In Chapter 15, the argument defines justice as keeping valid covenants, answers the claim that profitable betrayal is reasonable, and develops further natural laws governing peaceful society. It connects gratitude, equality, pardon, and impartial judgment to preservation, while distinguishing constant inward obligation from outward obedience that depends on security.

What happens

  1. Justice means keeping valid covenants, while coercive civil power establishes the security needed for justice and property.
  2. The argument rejects profitable betrayal as reasonable because covenant breakers cannot reliably secure the allies necessary for survival.
  3. It distinguishes just character from just actions, injury from damage, and contractual justice from equitable arbitration.
  4. Further natural laws require gratitude, accommodation, pardon, restrained punishment, equality, fair distribution, and impartial settlement of disputes.
  5. A reciprocal test summarizes the laws, which always bind inwardly but require security for outward practice.
  6. The conclusion identifies these peaceful virtues with moral philosophy and distinguishes rational conclusions from laws commanded by God.

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Why is someone unsuitable to arbitrate his own dispute?

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