
Leviathan in Lockdown - acsillag
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2020/may/leviathan-in-lockdown
======
phs318u
“Whatever else government does, the trick it absolutely has to pull off,
according to Hobbes, is to make us afraid of breaking the rules while ensuring
that we have no real cause to panic about our survival.”

I’d argue that some governments have a very tenuous grip on the above two
levers. COVID-19 has merely brought that into stark relief. I think that those
taking a gamble that the majority will be content to suffer (primarily) their
old folk suffering and dying in order to keep the grindstone of the economy
turning, will find out they are mistaken.

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
In my family, it's the old folks who are most worried about the _lockdown_. I
shouldn't imply I'm in favor of it, I'm pretty strongly opposed, but my and my
parents' generation ultimately know we have good times to look forward to. My
grandparents are starting to worry that, you know, am I signing up to do this
for the rest of my life?

------
blendo
“The total absence of citizens combined with the presence of protective
officials gives the city an air of being under a permanent state of siege. It
could almost be a depiction of David Hume’s remark, a century later, that
military camps ‘are the true mothers of cities’.”

Question: Where should one start in reading David Hume?

~~~
StevenRayOrr
If you're looking for a crash course on him as a political thinker, you could
check out the selections that seem of interest to you from his _Essays, Moral,
Political, and Literary_ [0]. If you want a more specific list (and a
reasonably coherent reading order):

* 'That Politics may be reduced to a Science' ("It is a question with several, whether there be any essential difference between one form of government and another? and, whether every form may not become good or bad, according as it is well or ill administered?")

* 'Of the First Principles of Government' ("Nothing appears more surprizing to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few")

* 'Of the Origin of Government' ("Man, born in a family, is compelled to maintain society, from necessity, from natural inclination, and from habit.")

* 'Of Parties in General' ("As much as legislators and founders of states ought to be honoured and respected among men, as much ought the founders of sects and factions to be detested and hated; because the influence of faction is directly contrary to that of laws.")

* 'Of Passive Obedience' ("The maxim, _fiat Justitia & ruat Coelum_, let justice be performed, though the universe be destroyed, is apparently false, and by sacrificing the end to the means, shews a preposterous idea of the subordination of duties.")

* 'Of the Coalition of Parties' ("Liberty is a blessing so inestimable, that, wherever there appears any probability of recovering it, a nation may willingly run many hazards, and ought not even to repine at the greatest effusion of blood or dissipation of treasure. All human institutions, and none more than government, are in continual fluctuation.")

* 'Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences' ("What depends upon a few persons is, in a great measure, to be ascribed to chance, or secret and unknown causes: What arises from a great number, may often be accounted for by determinate and known causes.")

* 'Of Commerce' ("The greater part of mankind may be divided into two classes; that of shallow thinkers, who fall short of the truth; and that of abstruse thinkers, who go beyond it.")

* 'Of Simplicity and Refinement in Writing' ("Fine writing, according to Mr. Addison, consists of sentiments, which are natural, without being obvious. There cannot be a juster, and more concise definition of fine writing.")

* 'Of Refinement in the Arts' ("We shall here endeavour to correct both these extremes, by proving, first, that the ages of refinement are both the happiest and most virtuous; secondly, that wherever luxury ceases to be innocent, it also ceases to be beneficial; and when carried a degree too far, is a quality pernicious, though perhaps not the most pernicious, to political society.")

[0]: Available on [https://davidhume.org/](https://davidhume.org/)

------
OliverJones
Two things:

1\. The graphic is a woodcut. Details take a LOT of time to produce, and they
make the woodcut less durable.

2\. Remember that Hobbes's Leviathan idea was revolutionary back then. The
idea that each of us answers to an abstract entity of truth and justice
overturned the idea that the monarchy could, and had to, dream up every single
rule of conduct (or point to the Hebrew Bible when it was convenient).

Here's a 21st century non-Leviathan way of thinking. On the wall of a flight
school I once saw a printed sign saying "Do not buzz your house." Scrawled
under that was "or anybody else's house either."

In our Leviathan world we know it's unwise for student pilots, or anyone, to
fly low over populated areas. We hardly have to run through the reasons:
hurtling tanks of gas, telephone poles, small children ... Pre-Leviathan,
everybody had to rely on handed-down laws. And when they were insufficient
they had to be amended.

(Gasoline fumes are well known to transport young men back to a pre-Leviathan
mode of civilization. :-)

Imagine the Internet in a pre-leviathan time. If all we knew was the content
of RFC5861, and didn't know why TCP congestion control (slow-start /
exponential backoff) was useful, routers would drop many more packets than
they do today.

Plus, I prefer my Big Brothers with long curly hair.

~~~
jsmith99
That's not a woodcut. It's acid etched on metal.

~~~
LargoLasskhyfv
Are you sure? Looks more like a
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupferstich](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupferstich)
to me, no acid involved.

(sorry for the german wikilink, but it has more pictures than the english
equivalent)

~~~
jsmith99
I originally assumed it wasn't a woodcut because the woodcuts I've seen were
mostly simpler, and I confirmed it by googling the artist. I now know that
woodcuts can rival etchings in complexity, but looking at the biography of the
artist he was an etcher who copied the engraved style. The British Museum
confirms itsw an etching
[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1867-1012-...](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1867-1012-510)

------
YeGoblynQueenne
>> And, right in the middle of the frontispiece, there are two figures
wandering the empty city. Their clothes identify them as plague doctors, with
their characteristic beaked masks, containing herbs or sponges soaked in
vinegar to filter the air.

Alternatively, they could be two people with long, pointy hoods stylized to
point backwards.

~~~
nanna
If you look at sharper prints of the frontispiece than the one LRB uses, they
do look more like hoods or hennins than plague masks, in my opinion.

I took this photo of them from a 17C copy of Leviathan at the British Library:
[https://ibb.co/DGL4dJj](https://ibb.co/DGL4dJj)

Edit: Not sure why the parent comment is being downvoted? They're making a
completely legitimate observation.

~~~
lurquer
Thanks for the better picture! Very useful post.

Look like hoods to me. But, whatever works for the essay... The REAL mystery
is what the two baseball batters are doing on the left side of the image.

------
motohagiography
The emphasis of plague doctors in that cover is pretty consistent with the
things a state will face. Plague has been an essential factor in all
government since beginning of time. There even is biblical trilemma for rulers
that is basically the option of three days of plauge, three months of fleeing
from your enemies, or three years of famine. The answer is rip the band-aid
off and accept the plague casualties because the alternatives cost you your
kingdom. You can see this playing out now as countries balance lockdowns
against the risk of becoming economic clients of larger or powers or losing
economic incumbency, and causing a generation lost to a severe depression.

It's why I predicted re-opening before mid-june, as if we lose a spring
season, we fall into dependency and long term losses.

~~~
Seibai
What continues to shock me about HN is how many people seem to think there's a
choice between casualties and economic harm.

The consensus among economists is that not having a lockdown would be worse
for the economy than having one: [http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/policy-
for-the-covid-19-cr...](http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/policy-for-the-
covid-19-crisis/)

The opportunity to avoid economic damage passed as soon as COVID-19 became
pandemic. Ending lockdowns early will make economic harm worse.

This exact same debate played out with the 1918 Flu, and regions that took
more stringent measures for longer came out better economically:
[https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3561560](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3561560)

~~~
ThrowawayR2
> " _What continues to shock me about HN is how many people seem to think
> there 's a choice between casualties and economic harm._"

That's a misrepresentation. Both sides understand that economic harm is
guaranteed. The question is when the economic harm of quarantine-caused
business collapses and job losses exceeds the economic harm of casualties.
Personally, like most of HN, I'm fine with extending the quarantine but, being
HNers, we can afford to weather the storm; the majority are not so fortunate.
And even I don't think that the US can afford to have the quarantine last much
longer than another month or two.

I don't think the 1918 pandemic is necessarily good guidance for that since
households were more self-sufficient then.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Personally, like most of HN, I'm fine with extending the quarantine but,
> being HNers, we can afford to weather the storm; the majority are not so
> fortunate.

Polls show the vast majority of the population supports extending shelter-in-
place, and (in polls where it gets broken out) that that support is stronger
among the _lower_ economic strata. Opposition, though weak everywhere, is
stronger among people who worry about how their investment portfolio is doing.
Some examples:

[https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/press-
release/poll-...](https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/press-
release/poll-8-in-10-americans-favor-strict-shelter-in-place-orders-to-limit-
coronavirus-spread-and-most-say-they-could-continue-to-obey-such-orders-for-
another-month-or-longer/)

[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-
poll/despite...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-poll/despite-
scattered-protests-most-americans-support-shelter-in-place-reuters-ipsos-poll-
shows-idUSKCN22336P)

[https://www.chcf.org/blog/covid-19-tracking-
poll-75-californ...](https://www.chcf.org/blog/covid-19-tracking-
poll-75-californians-support-shelter-place-as-long-as-needed/)

~~~
ardy42
> Polls show the vast majority of the population supports extending shelter-
> in-place, and (in polls where it gets broken out) that that support is
> stronger among the lower economic strata.

Which totally makes sense to me. Those with lower economic status have less
power, so if they want to shelter-in-place they have greater need for a
government order to provide cover for their decision.

------
rsync
Please, please subscribe to the London Review of Books. You will not be sorry.
Excellent writing on politics, current events and society ... along with the
book reviews and an interesting and lively letters-to-the-editor section.

You can subscribe to LRB on Amazon ...

------
carrozo
Great first episode of Talking Politics: A History of Ideas by David Runciman
was on Hobbes - [https://podcasts.apple.com/pt/podcast/talking-politics-
histo...](https://podcasts.apple.com/pt/podcast/talking-politics-history-of-
ideas/id1508992867?l=en&i=1000472784320)

