Abstract

Commentators of Hobbes’ Political Theory are divided between those who argue that the state of nature is caused by competition and distrust and those who affirm that it is caused by the fight for glory. In his work Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition, Jean Hampton analyzes the arguments presented in favor of both accounts, and proposes –against the aforementioned accounts– that conflict in the state of nature is the result of an error in reasoning that leads men to undervalue the future benefits of cooperative work. The article describes the account developed by Hampton and establishes the differences it has in relation to the rationality and passions accounts of conflict.