In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes has many different things to say about human nature and what drives men to commit certain actions. All actions committed by men and Thomas Hobbes' theories revolve around two central ideas, competition and desire. And because of competition and desire, people can never achieve true happiness. Man's desires and need to be better than others will prevent true happiness. But to understand why Hobbes believes this, we must first examine his view of human nature. In chapter 11 of Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes places great emphasis on desire. Hobbes says that humanity always does whatever it needs to do to achieve its desires. When we get a wish, we simply move on to what we want next. The progress made in realizing one desire and moving on to the next is what he calls Happiness (Leviathan chapter 11). The reason men have desires in the first place is because we have a lifestyle that we love and enjoy. So, naturally, humans want to do everything they can to maintain that lifestyle. So, naturally, man will put all his efforts and resources into gaining more power and making sure his needs and desires are met. According to Hobbes, power seems to be the only way in which man can guarantee the maintenance of his lifestyle, his desires and his needs. In Leviathan, Hobbes makes a comparison to Kings. It talks about how kings have all the power in their kingdom and to maintain their power they must get more. To gain more power, they gain the upper hand and conquer other lands. Hobbes says that man is essentially the same way. Men have the need to dominate and take the upper hand over those who are inferior. Man needs to cause more bats... middle of paper... In Hobbes' world, happiness is not possible due to man's selfish desires. Men have a constant need for dominance, competition and recognition. Man will always need to be better than the next man. To be better than anyone else, man must constantly achieve power. Gaining power always leads to constant violence and death. Basically man must strive to win wars and be dominant over others to notice what is best for the good of the people. Men think only of themselves instead of contributing to the general good. When there are a group of people who only think about themselves and want what they want, overall happiness cannot exist. There will always be a need among men to be better than others and to gain more power. Until this type of thinking stops and we focus on the common good, according to Hobbes, happiness cannot exist.