Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679), was an English philosopher. His most famous work, Leviathan, or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil (1651), was concerned with political theory. In this work, he denied that people are naturally social beings. He argued instead that people’s most basic motives are selfish considerations.
Hobbes was influenced by two developments of his time. One was a new system of physics that Galileo and others were working out (see Galileo ). From their ideas, Hobbes concluded that only matter exists and that everything that happens can be predicted in accordance with exact, scientific laws. Many people of his time believed that his view denied the existence of both God and a free human soul that is immortal. But Hobbes himself denied this.
The second great influence on Hobbes’s thought was the English Civil War (1642-1648). People, he concluded, are selfish. They are moved chiefly by desire for power and by fear of others. Thus, without an all-powerful sovereign to rule them, their lives would be “poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” These views also shocked his contemporaries.
Hobbes’s influence.
Though modern physics is not so materialistic as it seemed to be in Hobbes’s day and though human motives are more complex than he supposed, Hobbes’s influence continues. He raised fundamental and challenging questions about the relationship between science and religion, the relationship between thought and the physiological processes on which it is based, and the nature and limitations of political power. The questions that Hobbes raised are ones that people still struggle to answer.
His life.
Hobbes was born on April 5, 1588, in Westport (now part of Malmesbury), England. He was educated at Oxford University and served as secretary to Sir Francis Bacon and as tutor to William Cavendish, who later became Earl of Devonshire. Hobbes traveled widely with Cavendish and came into contact with many European philosophers and scientists.
During the English Civil War, Hobbes fled to the European continent. For a short time, he tutored the Prince of Wales, later Charles II, in mathematics. Though Hobbes returned to England while Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate was still in power, he was able to make peace with Charles II when Charles became king in 1660. Hobbes died on Dec. 4, 1679.
