This story does a good job of showing how humans react in different contextual pressures, but Hobbes wouldn't locate violence in animalistic behavior. The lottery, the rationing, triage, and the gangs are all institutional, requiring the very human faculties of reason and speech.
Also, Vas's refusal shows him being a judge of good and evil over the sovereign, which is what Hobbes says dissolves a commonwealth rather than redeems it. The narrative conveniently saves everyone with reclaimed water, insulating Vas from the consequences Hobbes would predict.
What wonderful comments! Thank you so much for reading the story, but even more so, thank you for such great comments, that's the whole point of us publishing stories like this!
Some depends on whether the instinct is to freeze or to fight, I think. Either way, it's an "animal"-ish instinct, but the individual inclination changes the way we are willing to interact with others, and a lot of ethics seem to depend on those interactions.
This story does a good job of showing how humans react in different contextual pressures, but Hobbes wouldn't locate violence in animalistic behavior. The lottery, the rationing, triage, and the gangs are all institutional, requiring the very human faculties of reason and speech.
Also, Vas's refusal shows him being a judge of good and evil over the sovereign, which is what Hobbes says dissolves a commonwealth rather than redeems it. The narrative conveniently saves everyone with reclaimed water, insulating Vas from the consequences Hobbes would predict.
What wonderful comments! Thank you so much for reading the story, but even more so, thank you for such great comments, that's the whole point of us publishing stories like this!
Some depends on whether the instinct is to freeze or to fight, I think. Either way, it's an "animal"-ish instinct, but the individual inclination changes the way we are willing to interact with others, and a lot of ethics seem to depend on those interactions.
Always is usually a weak position to defend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe
God bless Maximillian Kolbe and the others!
The "lottery" sounds somewhat like the one in Shirley Jackson's short story of that name.
What a complex short story. Hobbes-ian indeed.