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Explain the Relevance of the Prisoner's Dilemma to Hobbes' Social Contract Theory.
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Gabriela Belmar-Valencia 13CA 6th September 2003 Explain the Relevance of the Prisoner's Dilemma to Hobbes' Social Contract Theory Hobbes' social contract theory is based on the premise that people are naturally frightened. This does not mean that Hobbes thinks people are essentially highly strung nervous wrecks, terrified of their own shadow; he simply believes that people have a natural and rational aversion to danger. Hobbes has an atomistic view of the natural state of humans. He maintains that in the state of nature, individuals are essentially isolated from each other, occasionally colliding into and reacting against each other. The state of nature, when the structure organising people into civil society is removed, is in Hobbes' words "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". "The Prisoner's Dilemma" backs up Hobbes' argument of how individuals react to each other in the state of nature. Individuals are concerned with their own self interest and the focus...
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