The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 05 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
_J. D._ “In the next place follow two reasons of mine own against the
same distinction, the one taken from the former grounds, that election
cannot consist with determination to one. To this, he saith, he hath
answered already. No; truth is founded upon a rock. He hath been so far
from prevailing against it, that he hath not been able to shake it.
(_a_) Now again he tells us, that ‘election is not opposite to either’,
necessitation or compulsion. He might even as well tell us, that a stone
thrown upwards moves naturally; or that a woman can be ravished with her
own will. Consent takes away the rape. This is the strangest liberty
that ever was heard of, that a man is compelled to do what he would not,
and yet is free to do what he will. And this he tells us upon the old
score, that ‘he who submits to his enemy for fear of death, chooseth to
submit’. But we have seen formerly, that this which he calls compulsion,
is not compulsion properly, nor that natural determination of the will
to one, which is opposite to true liberty. He who submits to an enemy
for saving his life, doth either only counterfeit, and then there is no
will to submit; (this disguise is no more than a stepping aside to avoid
a present blow); or else he doth sincerely will a submission, and then
the will is changed. There is a vast difference between compelling and
changing the will. Either God or man may change the will of man, either
by varying the condition of things, or by informing the party otherwise:
but compelled it cannot be, that is, it cannot both will this and not
will this, as it is invested with the same circumstances; though, if the
act were otherwise circumstantiated, it might nill that freely which now
it wills freely. (_b_) Wherefore this kind of actions are called mixed
actions, that is partly voluntary, partly involuntary. That which is
compelled in a man’s present condition or distress, that is not
voluntary nor chosen. That which is chosen, as the remedy of its
distress, that is voluntary. So hypothetically, supposing a man were not
in that distress, they are involuntary; but absolutely without any
supposition at all, taking the case as it is, they are voluntary. (_c_)
His other instance of ‘a man forced to prison, that he may choose
whether he will be haled thither upon the ground, or walk upon his
feet,’ is not true. By his leave, that is not as he pleaseth, but as it
pleaseth them who have him in their power. If they will drag him, he is
not free to walk; and if they give him leave to walk, he is not forced
to be dragged. (_d_) Having laid this foundation, he begins to build
upon it, that ‘other passions do necessitate as much as fear’. But he
errs doubly; first, in his foundation. Fear doth not determine the
rational will naturally and necessarily. The last and greatest of the
five terrible things is death; yet the fear of death cannot necessitate
a resolved mind to do a dishonest action, which is worse than death. The