Leviathan in Lockdown
lrb.co.uk
Leviathan in Lockdown
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Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#2Two things:
1. The graphic is a woodcut. Details take a LOT of time to produce, and they make the woodcut less durable.
2. Remember that Hobbes's Leviathan idea was revolutionary back then. The idea that each of us answers to an abstract entity of truth and justice overturned the idea that the monarchy could, and had to, dream up every single rule of conduct (or point to the Hebrew Bible when it was convenient).
Here's a 21st century non-Leviathan way of thinking. On the wall of a flight school I once saw a printed sign saying "Do not buzz your house." Scrawled under that was "or anybody else's house either."
In our Leviathan world we know it's unwise for student pilots, or anyone, to fly low over populated areas. We hardly have to run through the reasons: hurtling tanks of gas, telephone poles, small children ... Pre-Leviathan, everybody had to rely on handed-down laws. And when they were insufficient they had to be amended.
(Gasoline fumes are well known to transport young men back to a pre-Leviathan mode of civilization. :-)
Imagine the Internet in a pre-leviathan time. If all we knew was the content of RFC5861, and didn't know why TCP congestion control (slow-start / exponential backoff) was useful, routers would drop many more packets than they do today.
Plus, I prefer my Big Brothers with long curly hair.
Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#3“Whatever else government does, the trick it absolutely has to pull off, according to Hobbes, is to make us afraid of breaking the rules while ensuring that we have no real cause to panic about our survival.”
I’d argue that some governments have a very tenuous grip on the above two levers. COVID-19 has merely brought that into stark relief. I think that those taking a gamble that the majority will be content to suffer (primarily) their old folk suffering and dying in order to keep the grindstone of the economy turning, will find out they are mistaken.
Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#4Two things: 1. The graphic is a woodcut. Details take a LOT of time to produce, and they make the woodcut less durable. 2. Remember that Hobbes's Leviathan idea was revolutionary back then. The idea that each of us answers to an abstract entity of truth and justice overturned the idea that the monarchy could, and had to, dream up every single rule of conduct (or point to the Hebrew Bible when it was convenient). Here…
That's not a woodcut. It's acid etched on metal.
Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#5“Whatever else government does, the trick it absolutely has to pull off, according to Hobbes, is to make us afraid of breaking the rules while ensuring that we have no real cause to panic about our survival.” I’d argue that some governments have a very tenuous grip on the above two levers. COVID-19 has merely brought that into stark relief. I think that those taking a gamble that the majority will be content to suffe…
You believe the majority will rather keep their parents for a few more years than a functioning economy? Intuitively, I'm pretty sure everybody will say "of course, I love my parents". If they think about it for a while, I don't believe that they will. I'm not sure the old people would either.
My reason for that belief is the behavior people show: they do not spend their money to pay for better health/elderly care to give their (grand) parents another year or two. And the old rather pass on money instead of spending it in an attempt to get another five years. A much weaker economy is functionally very similar to spending your savings in a good economy: you're going to be out of money in a few years.
Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#6The emphasis of plague doctors in that cover is pretty consistent with the things a state will face. Plague has been an essential factor in all government since beginning of time. There even is biblical trilemma for rulers that is basically the option of three days of plauge, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three years of famine. The answer is rip the band-aid off and accept the plague casualties because the alternatives cost you your kingdom. You can see this playing out now as countries balance lockdowns against the risk of becoming economic clients of larger or powers or losing economic incumbency, and causing a generation lost to a severe depression.
It's why I predicted re-opening before mid-june, as if we lose a spring season, we fall into dependency and long term losses.
Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#7The emphasis of plague doctors in that cover is pretty consistent with the things a state will face. Plague has been an essential factor in all government since beginning of time. There even is biblical trilemma for rulers that is basically the option of three days of plauge, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three years of famine. The answer is rip the band-aid off and accept the plague casualties becaus…
Things like vaccines and ICU units didn't exist in Biblical times so perhaps 2000 years of progress has had some effect on the calculus of such an issue.
Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#8Great first episode of Talking Politics: A History of Ideas by David Runciman was on Hobbes - https://podcasts.apple.com/pt/podcast/talking-politics-histo...
Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#9>> And, right in the middle of the frontispiece, there are two figures wandering the empty city. Their clothes identify them as plague doctors, with their characteristic beaked masks, containing herbs or sponges soaked in vinegar to filter the air.
Alternatively, they could be two people with long, pointy hoods stylized to point backwards.
Re: Leviathan in Lockdown
#10>> And, right in the middle of the frontispiece, there are two figures wandering the empty city. Their clothes identify them as plague doctors, with their characteristic beaked masks, containing herbs or sponges soaked in vinegar to filter the air. Alternatively, they could be two people with long, pointy hoods stylized to point backwards.
Bayes rule makes me prefer TFA's interpretation.