“The right of nature is the right which every man has to preserve his own life and to do whatsoever he judges necessary for that purpose.”Thomas Hobbes · Leviathan · 1651 · Partea I, capitolul 14
When life is at stake and no judge exists, any means becomes legitimate.
Hobbes starts from one fundamental right: self-preservation. If life is the only good you cannot recover, then everything becomes permissible when it is at stake, including violence. The mechanism is logical, not moral: with no authority to judge, no one can say another went too far. Example: in a disaster, when the state vanishes, ordinary people take water and medicine, and the act feels justified to them.
The next step: this right cannot be used safely by anyone. If everyone has a right to whatever is necessary, every other person becomes a potential threat. Not malice, just symmetry. Your neighbor holds exactly the same claim over the same resource as you. Think of a long power outage: you have a generator, he does not. You can refuse, but you know he has the same right to take it. The absolute right, though logical, brings no peace — it brings permanent suspicion. From here comes the question that will guide the next passages: how can you give up such a right without exposing yourself?
Why it matters It helps explain why societies accept limits on freedom in exchange for security, and where the line of that bargain lies.