Peter I think you bring up a very good point. I have never thought of Hobbs' "six reasons" the way that you bring up. Although I do still think that if there were no laws, people would act a lot different then they do now, therefore your argument probably would not be a valid one. I believe there would be a lot more people who Hobbs would consider dangerous, and there would be more people who do not use the six "gifts" as you call them, for the greater good.

Spencer, you asked a very good quesiton relating to the time Hobbs' wrote "Of Commonwealth". If Hobbs did write a paper before the civil war, I think it would have either been about a completly different topic, or his views would have been very, very different. I don't think he would have any problem with the first four reasons of his in "Of Commomwealth", therefore they would probably not be in the writing. I feel that he would have only a slight problem with the fifth reason. I don't think he would have had a problem with the first four of his reasons, therefore the sixth reason would not be so prominent, either.

Kendra, I have to disagree with you about your second point. I really do not believe humans "looking out for themsevles before anyone else", as you said, is a bad thing. Maybe if the slight selfishness gets very, very extreme it can become a bad thing, but if it is not extreme, I don't think it makes humans very dangerous. In fact, it may even make our world progress, becuase it will cause humans to do even better than they have before, which will help our world move forward, and become stronger.