Abstract

According to Hume, the question of the “dignity” or “meanness” of human nature comes down to a comparison of its “different motives or actuating principles”: that is, whether “our selfish and vicious principles” are “predominant above our social and virtuous” (Hume 1987, 84). Hume was responding in part to Hobbes, and comparison between the two philosophers on this question is common, with Hobbes placed on the “selfish” side, and Hume on the other. But, as Hume immediately goes on to say, “There is much of a dispute of words in all this controversy.” The implication is that the distinction at the heart of the dispute contains fairly little of substance. I shall argue that this is indeed an appropriate description of the difference between Hobbes and Hume on the subject of human selfishness when we consider the former’s psychological writings in Leviathan. Nevertheless, words matter when writing about human motivation because, by carrying connotations of praise or blame, they influence human actions. Accordingly, I shall suggest that the emphasis on self-regarding motives in Hobbes’s political writings results from a judgement about which image of human nature it is most useful to present.