The privilege of absurdity: How Afghanistan will prove Thomas Hobbes wrong

The political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes can help us understand why some, whilst not sharing their ideology, have welcomed the recent sweeping Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The work of John Gray and Albert Camus, however, show us that Hobbes was overly optimistic to believe that dilemmas of ethics and politics are always soluble through the application of reason and that there could be one handbook for governance for all. Gray’s critique of Hobbes provides us with some hope amongst the despair.