View source for Bellum omnium contra omnes

{{Short description|Latin phrase coined by Thomas Hobbes}}

{{Italic title}}
[[File:Bellum omnium contra omnes.png|thumb|The ''Præfatio'' (Preface) of ''De Cive'' where the phrase {{Lang|la|bellum omnium contra omnes}} appears for the first time.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb__VxUMFGXmYkC/page/n110 <!-- pg=11 quote="bellum o-mnium contra omnes". --> See] on [[Google Books]].</ref> Taken from the revised edition printed in 1647 at Amsterdam (''apud L. Elzevirium'').<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb__VxUMFGXmYkC See] on Google Books.</ref>]]
'''{{lang|la|Bellum omnium contra omnes}}''', a [[Latin language|Latin]] phrase meaning "'''the war of all against all'''", is the description that [[Thomas Hobbes]] gives to [[Human condition|human existence]] in the [[state of nature|state-of-nature]] [[thought experiment]] that he conducts in ''[[De Cive]]'' (1642) and ''[[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]]'' (1651). The common modern English usage is a war of "'''each against all'''" where war is rare and terms such as "competition" or "struggle" are more common.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/71/0425.html|title=Each Against All|author=Charles Fourier|author-link=Charles Fourier|editor=Upton Sinclair|editor-link=Upton Sinclair| year=1915|edition=1st |work=[[Bartleby.com]]|accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref>

== Thomas Hobbes' use ==
In ''[[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]]'' itself,<ref name=Lv >{{cite book |title=Leviathan |author=Thomas Hobbes |author-link=Thomas Hobbes |editor-first=Hermann |editor-last=Klenner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KJJ1HkxT_hoC |publisher=Meiner Verlag |location=[[Hamburg]] |year=2005 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KJJ1HkxT_hoC&dq=%22a+warre,+as+is+of+every+man,+against+every+man%22+%22a+perpetuall+warre+of+every+man+against+his+neighbour%22+%22bellum+omnium+in+omnes%22+%22bellum+omnium+contra+omnes%22&pg=610 610] |isbn=978-3-787-31699-1 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Thomas Hobbes|Hobbes]] speaks of 'warre of every one against every one',<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BPtdfEZ2iDcC&dq=%22Warre+of+every+one+against+every+one%22&pg=PA72 Chapter 14].</ref> of 'a war [...] of every man against every man'<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BPtdfEZ2iDcC&q=%22of+every+man+against+every+man%22 Chapters 13-14].</ref> and of 'a perpetuall warre of every man against his neighbour',<ref name=Lv /><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BPtdfEZ2iDcC&q=%22a+perpetuall+warre+of+every+man+against+his+neighbour%22 Chapter 24].</ref> but the Latin phrase occurs in ''[[De Cive]]'':
{{Quote|[...] ''ostendo primo conditionem hominum extra societatem civilem, quam conditionem appellare liceat statum naturæ, aliam non esse quam bellum omnium contra omnes; atque in eo bello jus esse omnibus in omnia''.<ref>{{in lang|la}} [https://archive.org/details/operaphilosophi00molegoog/page/n158 <!-- pg=148 quote="ostendo primo conditionem hominum extra societatem civilem, quam conditionem appellare liceat statum naturae, aliam non esse quam bellum omnium contra omnes ; atque in eo bello jus esse omnibus in omnia". --> ''Præefatio'' ("Preface")].</ref>

(I demonstrate, in the first place, that the state of men without civil society (which state we may properly call the state of nature) is nothing else but a mere war of all against all; and in that war all men have equal right unto all things.)<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?&tbm=bks&q=%22I+demonstrate+in+the+first+place,+that+the+state+of+men+without+civil+society+(which+state+we+may+properly+call+the+state+of+nature)+is+nothing+else+but+a+mere+war+of+all+against+all;+and+in+that+war+all+men+have+equal+right+unto+all+things%22 English translation] on Google Books.</ref>}}

Later on, two slightly modified versions are presented in ''De Cive'':
{{Quote|[...] ''Status hominum naturalis antequam in societatem coiretur, bellum fuerit; neque hoc simpliciter, sed bellum omnium in omnes.''<ref>{{in lang|la}} [https://archive.org/details/operaphilosophi00molegoog/page/n176 <!-- pg=166 quote="status hominum naturalis antequam in societatem coiretur, bellum fuerit; neque hoc simpliciter, sed bellum omnium""in omnes". --> Chapter 1, section 12].</ref>

(The natural state of men, before they entered into society, was a mere war, and that not simply, but a war of all men against all men.)<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?&tbm=bks&q=inauthor%3A%22Thomas+Hobbes%22%22The+natural+state+of+men,+before+they+entered+into+society,+was+a+mere+war,+and+that+not+simply,+but+a+war+of+all+men+against+all+men%22 English translation] on Google Books.</ref>}}

{{Quote|''Nam unusquisque naturali necessitate bonum sibi appetit, neque est quisquam qui bellum istud omnium contra omnes, quod tali statui naturaliter adhæret, sibi existimat esse bonum''.<ref>{{in lang|la}} [https://archive.org/details/operaphilosophi00molegoog/page/n176 <!-- pg=166 quote="Nam unusquisque naturali necessitate bonum sibi appetit, neque est quisquam qui bellum istud omnium contra omnes, quod tali statui naturaliter adhaeret, sibi existimat esse bonum". --> Chapter 1, section 13].</ref>

(For every man by natural necessity desires that which is good for him: nor is there any that esteems a war of all against all, which necessarily adheres to such a state, to be good for him.)<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?&tbm=bks&q=%22De+Cive%22%22For+every+man+by+natural+necessity+desires+that+which+is+good+for+him%3A+nor+is+there+any+that+esteems+a+war+of+all+against+all%2C+which+necessarily+adheres+to+such+a+state%2C+to+be+good+for+him%22 English translation] on Google Books.</ref>}}

In chapter XIII of ''Leviathan'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/34/5/13.html |title=Chapter XIII - Of the Natural Condition of Mankind as Concerning Their Felicity and Misery |author=Thomas Hobbes |date= |work=bartleby.com |accessdate=15 August 2012 |archive-date=4 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204090304/https://www.bartleby.com/34/5/13.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hobbes explains the concept with these words:
{{Quote|Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called War; and such a war as is of every man against every man.<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Thomas+Hobbes%22%22Hereby+it+is+manifest+that+during+the+time+men+live+without+a+common+Power+to+keep+them+all+in+awe,+they+are+in+that+condition+which+is+called+War;+and+such+a+war+as+is+of+every+man+against+every+man%22 Occurrences] on Google Books.</ref> [...] In such condition there is no place for Industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continual Fear, and danger of violent death; And the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Thomas+Hobbes%22%22In+such+condition+there+is+no+place+for+Industry,+because+the+fruit+thereof+is+uncertain:+and+consequently+no+Culture+of+the+Earth;+no+Navigation,+nor+use+of+the+commodities+that+may+be+imported+by+Sea;+no+commodious+Building;+no+Instruments+of+moving+and+removing+such+things+as+require+much+force;+no+Knowledge+of+the+face+of+the+Earth;+no+account+of+Time;+no+Arts;+no+Letters;+no+Society;+and+which+is+worst+of+all,+continual+Fear,+and+danger+of+violent+death;+And+the+life+of+man+solitary,+poor,+nasty,+brutish,+and+short%22 ''Ibid.'']</ref>}}

The thought experiment places people in a pre-social condition, and theorizes what would happen in such a condition. According to Hobbes, the outcome is that people choose to enter a [[social contract]], giving up some of their liberties in order to enjoy peace. This thought experiment is a test for the [[Legitimacy (political)|legitimation]] of a [[Sovereign state|state]] in fulfilling its role as "[[sovereignty|sovereign]]" to guarantee social order, and for comparing different types of states on that basis.

Hobbes distinguishes between war and battle: war does not only consist of actual battle; it points to the situation in which one knows there is a 'Will to contend by Battle'.<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Thomas+Hobbes%22+Leviathan+%22Will+to+contend+by+Battle%22 ''Ibid.'']</ref>

== Later uses ==
In his ''[[Notes on the State of Virginia]]'' (1785), [[Thomas Jefferson]] uses the phrase {{langx|la|label=none|bellum omnium in omnia}} ("war of all things against all things", assuming {{langx|la|label=none|omnium}} is intended to be neuter like {{langx|la|label=none|omnia}}) as he laments that the constitution of that state was twice at risk of being sacrificed to the nomination of a [[dictator]] after the manner of the [[Roman Republic]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Notes on the State of Virginia|author=Thomas Jefferson|author-link=Thomas Jefferson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FlEVAAAAYAAJ | publisher=Lilly and Wait | location=Boston| year=1832|page=[https://archive.org/details/notesonstatevir03jeffgoog/page/n144 <!-- quote="ad libitum into any other form of government for precedents to rule us by, for what oppression may not a precedent be found in this world of the bellum omnium in omnia?". --> 134]|isbn=9781548602185 }}</ref>

The phrase was sometimes used by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]]:
* In ''[[On the Jewish Question]]'' (1843–1844):
{{Quote|Religion has become the spirit of ''[[civil society]]'', of the sphere of egoism, of {{langx|la|label=none|bellum omnium contra omnes}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/jewish-question/ |title=On The Jewish Question - Works of Karl Marx 1844 |date= |publisher=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |access-date=31 May 2016}}</ref>}}
* In ''[[Grundrisse|Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy]]'' (1857–1858):
{{quote|One could just as well deduce from this abstract phrase that each individual reciprocally blocks the assertion of the others' interests, so that, instead of a general affirmation this war of all against all produces a general negation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch03.htm |title=Grundrisse: Notebook I – The Chapter on Money|author=|date= |publisher=Marxists Internet Archive |access-date=31 May 2016}}</ref>}}
:The English translation eliminates the Latin phrase used in the original German.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://emanzipationoderbarbarei.blogsport.de/studium/dokumente/karl-marx-grundrisse-der-kritik-der-politischen-akonomie/entstehung-und-wesen-des-geldes/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423014410/http://emanzipationoderbarbarei.blogsport.de/studium/dokumente/karl-marx-grundrisse-der-kritik-der-politischen-akonomie/entstehung-und-wesen-des-geldes/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 23, 2014 |title=Entstehung und Wesen des Geldes. Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie|author=|date= |publisher=emanzipationoderbarbarei.blogsport.de/studium/dokumente/karl-marx-grundrisse-der-kritik-der-politischen-akonomie/entstehung-und-wesen-des-geldes/|access-date=12 December 2016|language=de}}</ref>
* In a letter from Marx to Engels (18 June 1862):
{{quote|It is remarkable how [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]] rediscovers, among the beasts and plants, the society of England with its division of labour, competition, opening up of new markets, 'inventions' and [[Thomas Robert Malthus|Malthusian]] 'struggle for existence'. It is Hobbes' {{langx|la|label=none|bellum omnium contra omnes}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://marxists.architexturez.net/archive/marx/works/1862/letters/62_06_18.htm |title=Marx-Engels Correspondence 1862|author=|date= |publisher=Marxists Internet Archive |accessdate=4 March 2012}}</ref>}}
* In a letter to [[Pyotr Lavrov]] (London, 12–17 November 1875), Engels is expressed clearly against any attempt to legitimize the trend anthropomorphizing human nature to the distorted view of natural selection:
{{Quote|The whole Darwinists teaching of the struggle for existence is simply a transference from society to living nature of Hobbes's doctrine of {{langx|la|label=none|bellum omnium contra omnes}} and of the bourgeois-economic doctrine of competition together with Malthus's theory of population. When this conjurer's trick has been performed..., the same theories are transferred back again from organic nature into history and it is now claimed that their validity as eternal laws of human society has been proved.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/letters/75_11_17-ab.htm |title=Engels to Pyotr Lavrov In London |author=Friedrich Engels |author-link=Friedrich Engels |others=Transcription/Markup: Brian Baggins|date= |work=Marx-Engels Correspondence 1875 |publisher=Marxists Internet Archive |access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref>}}
* It was also used by [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] in ''[[On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense]]'' (1873):
{{Quote|Insofar as the individual wants to preserve himself against other individuals, in a natural state of affairs he employs the intellect mostly for simulation alone. But because man, out of need and boredom, wants to exist socially, herd-fashion, he requires a peace pact and he endeavors to banish at least the very crudest {{langx|la|label=none|bellum omnium contra omnes}} from his world.<ref>[[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]]'s translation in {{cite book|title=The portable Nietzsche |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=blfwSlxhjvAC | publisher=[[Penguin Books]] | location=[[City of Westminster]], London | year=1977 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=blfwSlxhjvAC&dq=%22Insofar+as+the+individual%22&pg=PT35 35] | isbn = 978-1-440-67419-8}}</ref>}}
* Max Stirner also used the term in his book "The One and his own". 
* Rudolf Steiner describes it with the term "war of all against all" a future epoch, when the human race will be submitted to a powerful selfishness.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

== See also ==
{{cols}}
* [[Anomie]]
* [[Failed state]]
* ''[[Homo homini lupus]]''
* [[List of Latin phrases]]
* [[Rat race]]
* [[Social contract theories]]
* [[State of nature]]

{{colend}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|25em}}

{{Thomas Hobbes}}
{{Political philosophy}}

[[Category:1642 in military history]]
[[Category:17th-century neologisms]]
[[Category:17th-century quotations]]
[[Category:Enlightenment philosophy]]
[[Category:Latin philosophical phrases]]
[[Category:Latin political words and phrases]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to war and violence]]
[[Category:Concepts in ethics]]
[[Category:Thomas Hobbes]]
[[Category:Thought experiments in ethics]]