"Leviathan" and its Insights about Thomas Hobbes' View on Gun Laws

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject Philosophy - Practical (Ethics, Aesthetics, Culture, Nature, Right, ...), grade: 5.0, University of Luzern, course: Die moralischen Grenzen des Marktes, language: English, abstract: This paper intends on developing Thomas Hobbes¿ opinion on gun laws based on his writing of ¿Leviathan¿, and from there answering the question, what gun policy Hobbes would favour nowadays.

Throughout the last few years, there have constantly been discussions about whether or not to implement more gun control legislation. In Europe and the United States, the subject of gun control gained more attention with the news reporting on mass shootings and terror attacks. Where should gun legislation go from here on? Either towards further restricting gun rights, or in the direction of liberalising gun laws?

Undoubtedly, gun rights and gun laws are important topics that need to be discussed. This paper will define terms such as ¿gun¿ and ¿firearm¿, in order to spare the reader from unnecessary guesswork. Subsequently, a summary of the most crucial points facing the ongoing debate about gun rights respectively gun laws will follow, so as to provide the context in which gun rights are currently discussed. The next step will be to elaborate on Hobbes¿ two states as well as his two fundamental laws of nature.