[Borodog]

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John,

The animal kingdom most certainly does not flourish as a whole compared to mankind under the free market.

Are you actually arguing that if human beings did nothing but predate upon each other that some sort of desirable result would occur? If not, what exactly is your point? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

What you're describing is exactly what Hobbes feared; mankind reduced to the level of beasts struggling against each other to consume scarce resources, rather than cooperating with each other to increase the supply of scarce resources, which is the function of the market. Hobbes was right to fear that.

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Did Hobbes suggest that in the natural state, humans would predate ONLY upon each other, and give up predating upon other species?

Beasts "get along" and flourish very well overall, in my opinion. Species rarely predate upon the same species, and the system works very well as an organic whole.

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I boggle. Do you really think that animal species "flourish" compared to mankind under the division of labor and trade? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]