Hello, I've just seen on of your post about Hobbes and season 7 of SPN and I was wondering if you Could tell me more about it, It will help me a lot I have a very big work to do about Hobbes and I think it would be interesting to talk about Supernatural because I understand supernatural better than Hobbes. If you want to help me it would be great and if you don't its ok :)
Of course! By Hobbes’ definition of the social contract, people in a state of nature (that is, without society) will inherently go to war with each other as individuals will have conflicts of interest and live in a perpetual state of fear. To end the chaos of the state of nature, humans come together and establish a government in which they surrender all freedoms to the sovereign entity but their individual right to self-preservation. In return, the government ensures that individuals will not harm each other through the creation of laws. Hobbes names this society the LEVIATHAN as it is composed of individual people who make up parts of its body, and the sovereign acts as the LEVIATHAN’s head.
I feel that the model of Hobbes’ LEVIATHAN seen in S7 of Supernatural functions as a critique of corporate dominance as large companies buy-up smaller businesses to form “Leviathan” conglomerates. Such is the case with Dick Roman and the various companies he buys to create is corporate empire. Hobbes’ would call this a commonwealth by acquisition. This is sadly reflective of the American reality. While small businesses might be in a state of war with each other in an economy with a level playing field, they still have the highly important right to self-determination that the writers of Supernatural have stressed throughout every season, especially in regard to Sam and Castiel.
On the other hand, the equitable free market is also a place of chaos that leaves individuals unprotected as a matter of self-interest. For instance, Dick Roman’s corporate Leviathan managed to cure illnesses and put a stopper on crime which were not priorities of the free market, albeit at the expense of drugging the public and thereby removing the cognitive capacity for individual agency. In this sense, humanity might be better off under the LEVIATHAN (despite being raised like cattle) from a utilitarian standpoint.
However, the writers of Supernatural would refute Hobbes by saying that living under the Leviathan isn’t really living at all. True, more people might live because of it, but it removes the aspect of life that grants one the human capacity for reason and individualism. This is most reflected in the Winchesters’ rebellion against it. By refusing to conform to the norms of the Leviathan’s rule and accept the protection thereof, they throw a wrench in Hobbes’ system by making the “misjudgement” that freedom is more valuable than protection. This power of the individual human spirit is perhaps reflected in persons whom the Leviathan are unable to replicate such as Charlie Bradbury. In resistance, the Winchesters and Castiel are able to take down the Dick Roman and save humanity. According to Hobbes, doing so would constitute putting sovereignty in the hands of the people which is a means of destroying the political LEVIATHAN which is manifested when Dean kills Dick Roman and thereby destroys the LEVIATHAN as an entity both literally and figuratively because the sovereign is deposed, allowing humanity to return to a state of nature, chaos, and—most importantly—freedom.
