Thomas Hobbes
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| Born |
5 April 1588 Westport, Wiltshire, England |
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| Died |
4 December 1679 (aged 91) Derbyshire, England |
| Era |
17th-century philosophy (Modern Philosophy) |
| Region | Western Philosophers |
| School | Social contract, classical realism, empiricism, materialism |
| Main interests | Political philosophy, history, ethics, geometry |
| Notable ideas | Modern founder of the Social Contract tradition; life in the state of nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" |
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Influenced by
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Thomas Hobbes wrote The Leviathan after the Civil War his political theory was absolutist. He wrote four tracts called the Elements of law. The third text is the Leviathan
Always rational give up your rights to one person or group. The alternative to not doing so is war.
Early Years
Like Malthusian or Orwellian he gave us a dark side of the human condition - we can get away from that state by way of a social contract. His biographer was John Aubrey best know for his Brief Lives. His father was an alcoholic clergyman but he had a rich uncle who sent him to Oxford. After he graduates he hears that Lord Hardwick's son(Devonshire) needs a tutor. Hobbes is recommended even though he is only a few years older. He stays with the Devonshires for the next seventy years even though he was often at odds with the family's values.
Hobbes translated History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Hobbes wants to understand democracy (which is growing in England and of which Hobbes was skeptical) and thinks he thinks Thucydides would be opposed to democracy. Democracies are chaotic and believes a state should have a supreme authority (which could be democratic) but the problem is democrats keep changing their mind. Conflict between people who are driven to improve their lot which must be contrary to what other people want. The "war of all against all" could only be averted by strong central government. His politics is extreme and absolutist - all property belongs to the King but his does not mean he agreed with the divine right of kings. Consent was key to his beliefs but once consent was given it cannot be revoked unless the absolute power does not protect the people.
Hobbes had circulated the Elements of Law. He fears his view will get him into trouble. The Long Parliament investigates those who have espoused the divinity of kings.
1640 - 1652 he stays in France where he writes the Leviathan. Morality - He reduces all beings to matter and motion. Human form have reason and will which sets in apart from animals. The will allows selects the natural moral good. In the Leviathan he gets rid of the objective natural goodness only what the human believes is right and wrong. You have the right to believe in the right and wrong on your own terms.
Hobbesain Trap
Thomas Hobbes believed that human beings are essentially ruthless competitors, with only their personal interest at heart. Living in a state of anarchy, each man would crave another man's possessions and make his life a living hell. That is why an all-powerful state is necessary.
But why should it be a hell? Cannot men co-operate spontaneously? They cannot, says Hobbes, because they fundamentally distrust one another. Suppose I did not know what my neighbour was after, and suppose he were as strong as I was. He might intend to rob me or use me as his slave. I'd need a club to defend myself, though I was not planning to attack him myself. He, seeing my club, and not knowing what to expect of me either, would feel the need to forge a sword. For fear of the sword, I'd build great walls, and a cannon just in case. In no time, both of us would be occupied with protecting ourselves most of the time, says Hobbes, instead of producing something useful. We would have fallen into the Hobbesian Trap. And, where there are weapons and suspicion, war is inevitable. So freedom and distrust lead to waste and violence.
The Leviathan
In the frontispiece on the Leviathan. A large number of small people who make up the monster. A large number of individuals have been made in to one monstrous body. For Hobbes there is no such things as a body of people. The contract or covenant can only be a contract between each and everyone of these people that there be a sovereign. The act of all of us agreeing to make one person supreme who has his will paramount and will tell people what to thing or legislate on behalf of everyone else makes as unity of the representor not representatives. That is what the state is.
He believes the spiritual world does not exist. No witches, no demons, devils or Hell and none of these spiritual powers exist. In fact under his Leviathan he is against organized religion as he be believed churches were money grabbing, power seeking organization. He opens himself up to heresy especially after the Restoration. The Leviathan was investigated and heresy was a capital crime. He writes treatise on Hersey and determines it is an individual opinion and you cannot be tried for that.
He had the ability to survive very different regimes possibly helped by the Devonshire's but also through the power of his argument.
The problem with Hobbes' philosophy is concept of fear and acceptance of the supreme leader. For example if you are robbed by a highwayman and you agree to hand over your valuables does that mean that you have acquiesced to the right for a highwayman to rob you?
