3 minute read
Editor’s Note
ON THOMAS HOBBES AND THE RULES OF THE GAME
It’s time for more philosophy of golf so let’s get right to the action with Thomas Hobbes, the great seventeenth century English political philosopher, who, like Machiavelli, had a very dark and pessimist view of human nature and believed that people were generally greedy, hypocritical, and deceitful and driven by a desire for their own personal wealth and gain. We all know that there are some bad apples out there. But Hobbes tells us that we’re all selfish and that it’s only the rule of law and fear of punishment that keeps people in line.
He clarifies this by saying that if society breaks down and plunges into chaos, we would live in “a state of nature” where, without rules or laws, we would be forced to steal or worse to stay alive. In a world where everyone is desperate for basic daily staples, you could argue, as Hobbes and other rationalist philosophers do, that it would even be rational to kill if it was necessary to survive.
On this point, Hobbes famously wrote in his 1651 book Leviathan that life in a state of nature is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”
Sounds bad, I know! But he leaves us with a slight glimmer of hope and says that the solution to this chaos would be to put a powerful sovereign or leader in charge and that we would have to agree to enter into a “social contract” and give up some of our freedoms for the sake of safety and security and living in a wellordered political state.
So what does this have to do with golf? A lot! But let’s quickly dig in a little deeper here to get to the heart of the matter. In Leviathan, Hobbes says that to maintain order and stability for the safety and security of his subjects, the sovereign would have the absolute power and right to punish anyone who breaks the law.
This might seem so obvious that you dismiss it. But, for Hobbes, it was extremely important and this is where golf comes in because golf, like all sports, has its own set of principals and rules to protect and maintain the honor and integrity of the game.
Right? Either way, the origins of the rules of golf can be traced back to Scotland in 1744, when, according to the USGA and historians, a code of “Articles & Laws in Playing at Golf” was drafted by The Gentlemen Golfers of Leith for a single day of competition on the Leith links. Some three hundred years later, the principles established in those rules still fundamentally describe the same game that is played around the world today.
There’s more to the story, of course, but the point is that if we want to live and play well together, both on and off the course, rules and laws are needed to maintain the safety and security of a civil society and the honor and integrity of the game.
Which brings us to golfing great Bobby Jones, who, after calling a penalty shot on himself that eventually cost him the 1925 U.S. Open, an act that earned him universal praise, famously said, “You might as well praise me for not robbing banks.”
Hobbes would also praise Jones for even though he lost the tournament, his honesty in following the rules earned him an even greater glory and prestige among the people than had he simply clinched the title. And there you have it—Thomas Hobbes and the Rules of the Game!
Enjoy your walk,
