>Yes. That is why Hobbes endorses the right of "Guilty" men to defend
>themselves against the State (see my post titled "Hobbes on War & Capital
>Punishment"). I'd really like to know if any other major Western
>philosopher (other than Marxists and Anarchists) has ever endorsed the same
>right.
I don't remember the details, but a couple of hundred years back a bunch of traitors prettily excused their capital crime (and intention both to continue their treachery and add conspiracy, murder and vandalism to the charge sheet) along similar lines. It went something like:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness ... when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Tom Paine is all over this argument, and methinks Tom Paine knew his Hobbes well enough to take Hobbes where he would not go himself.
Cheers, Rob.