ABSTRACT
Since individuals can differ markedly in what they want (L, ch. 6, E III 40-41), one person's felicity may not be another's. And since individuals can differ markedly in how they go about getting what they want (cf. L, ch. 11, E III 85), even when they want the same thing, one person's pursuit of felicity need not be another's. What, then, can be said in general about felicity and the pursuit of it? One thing Hobbes manages to say in Leviathan is that the desire for power, the more the better, goes with the pursuit of felicity (L, ch. 11, E III 85-6). By 'power' he means some present means to a future good (L, ch. 10, E III 74). He has in mind not only special strengths of body and character a person may naturally possess, but also things that can be acquired, such
as riches, reputation and friends (L, ch. 10, E III 74). These are things people want and have reason to pursue no matter what their ultimate ends are.
