Thomas Hobbes: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:28, 7 November 2022

1588-1679. English philosopher and cult figure.

Thomas Hobbes was born on 5 April 1588 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire as the son of a local clergyman. Around 1602, Hobbes started studying at Oxford at Magdalen Hall. After his graduation in 1608, he was hired by the Cavendish family as tutor and secretary.

In 1640, Hobbes finished his first book The Elements of Law. He started to take an interest in political philosophy. His work of 1642, De Cive, was his first book that took up political issues. Hobbes left England to live in Paris in 1640 due to him being associated with the Royalists.

While living in France, Hobbes kept company with Marin Mersenne, a French philosopher and mathematician. In 1646, Hobbes was invited to become the teacher for mathematics of Charles, Prince of Wales, later to become Charles II who had gone into exile to France.

When Hobbes published his most famous work Leviathan in 1651, he was accused of being an atheist as he criticised the church in his book. As Hobbes did not argue for a divine right of kings, but promoted absolute rule created by a contract, the Restoration establishment did also not appreciate the treatise (it acquired cult status among young courtiers like John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester), though. In 1666, the book was banned by Parliament. In 1683, Leviathan was publicly burned at Oxford University.

In 1652, Hobbes returned to England and submitted to the Commonwealth government. Owing to his contacts with Charles II, he got a pension after the Restoration in 1660. In the late 1660s he wrote Behemoth; or, The Long Parliament which dealt with the history of civil wars. It was published posthumously in 1682.

Thomas Hobbes died on 4 December 1679 at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire.

Sources:

Duncan, Stewart. "Thomas Hobbes." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Standford University, 11 Mar. 2009. [1]

Longer Biography available on Luminarium.org [2]

Kersting, Wolfgang: Thomas Hobbes. Hamburg: Junius 2004.

Röd, Wolfgang: Der Weg der Philosophie. Hamburg: C.H. Beck, 1996.

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-Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), born at Malmesbury (supposedly frightened before his birth by the approach of the Spanish [[Armada]]) and educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford. Like [[John Milton]], he travelled to the European continent and met Galileo Galilei, Descartes and Mersenne. Briefly worked as mathematical tutor to the exiled King [[Charles II]], but returned to England and submitted to the [[Commonwealth Regime]] in 1652. Got a pension after the [[Restoration]] in 1660.
+-1679. English philosopher and cult figure.
-Known as influential political philosopher, most famously for ''The Leviathan'' (1651).
+Thomas Hobbes was born on 5 April 1588 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire as the son of a local clergyman. Around 1602, Hobbes started studying at Oxford at Magdalen Hall. After his graduation in 1608, he was hired by the Cavendish family as tutor and secretary.
-''Leviathan, or the matter, form and power of a common wealth ecclesiastical and civil''
+In 1640, Hobbes finished his first book ''The Elements of Law''. He started to take an interest in political philosophy. His work of 1642, ''De Cive'', was his first book that took up political issues.
+Hobbes left England to live in Paris in 1640 due to him being associated with the [[Cavaliers|Royalists]].
-The title of this text is a reference to the book of Job in the bible ("Hiob" in German). There, 'leviathan' denotes a sea monster of which is said that there is no power on earth which is comparable to its power. Hobbes uses the leviathan as a symbol of the political power of the state which alone is able to establish peace and security among men.
+While living in France, Hobbes kept company with Marin Mersenne, a French philosopher and mathematician.
+In 1646, Hobbes was invited to become the teacher for mathematics of Charles, Prince of Wales, later to become [[Charles II]] who had gone into exile to France.
-  Hobbes' view was influenced not only by the power struggle between king and Parliament, but also by the civil wars of his time, which were mainly religiously motivated. From these circumstances, Hobbes draws the following (quite memorable...) conclusion that religion is unsuitable to establish a reliable political order. This task is now to be fulfilled by political philosophy. Therefore, the philosopher Wolfgang Kersting calls the philosophy (as instrumentalised by Hobbes) a "Friedenswissenschaft" (Kersting 44), i.e. the philosopher has to set up principles upon which a political system can be successfully built.
+When Hobbes published his most famous work ''[[Leviathan]]'' in 1651, he was accused of being an atheist as he criticised the church in his book. As Hobbes did not argue for a divine right of kings, but promoted absolute rule created by a contract, the Restoration establishment did also not appreciate the treatise (it acquired cult status among young courtiers like [[John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester|John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester]]), though. In 1666, the book was banned by Parliament. In 1683, ''Leviathan'' was publicly burned at Oxford University.
-  Hobbes starts out from a state of nature, in which men behave like wolves against each other, driven by fear and desire. This state of nature is the result of a thought experiment: to find out how the state works and how a political system is to be established, Hobbes disintegrates the states of its components, i.e. its legal system and conventions. What cannot be dissolved or disintegrated and therefore remains is the individual.
-  Following the rules of his (i.e. Hobbesian) logic, man acts like an animal if bereft of rules and regulations. He pursues what Hobbes calls his right to everything. However, the strongest passion of this animal is its fear of death. Consequently, man has a strong instinct of self-preservation and he understands that in the lawless state of nature, "his right to everything is a right to nothing" (Lev, 13), i.e. it is very likely that he will lose all his gains as soon as another person longs for the same as he does. Thus he realizes that he has to leave this state of nature if he wants to lead a life worth living.
+In 1652, Hobbes returned to England and submitted to the Commonwealth government. Owing to his contacts with Charles II, he got a pension after the [[Restoration]] in 1660.
-  This is where the Leviathan comes in: human beings leave the state of nature via concluding a contract with each other to give over their power (their right to everything) to one person or an assembly of persons (for fear of tiresome discussions and quarrels - as seen in Parliament - Hobbes favours the single-person-solution).
+In the late 1660s he wrote ''Behemoth; or, The Long Parliament'' which dealt with the history of civil wars. It was published posthumously in 1682.
-This person/ assembly thus becomes the Leviathan, or the mortal God. However, although every man agrees in a contract to transfer his power to the Leviathan, this Leviathan himself is only the benefactor of this contract and no party to this agreement. Otherwise he would not have have the absolute power which is necessary to secure peace among his subjects and to enforce laws.
-sources:
+Thomas Hobbes died on 4 December 1679 at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire.
-''Oxford Companion to Literature
-''Longer Biography available on Luminarium.org [http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/hobbes/hobbesbio.htm]
+==Sources:==
-Kersting, Wolfgang: ''Thomas Hobbes'', Hamburg: Junius 2004.
-Röd, Wolfgang: ''Der Weg der Philosophie'', Hamburg: [Publishing House?] 1996.
+Duncan, Stewart. "Thomas Hobbes." ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. Standford University, 11 Mar. 2009. [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes/]
+Longer Biography available on Luminarium.org [http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/hobbes/hobbesbio.htm]
+Kersting, Wolfgang: ''Thomas Hobbes''. Hamburg: Junius 2004.
+Röd, Wolfgang: ''Der Weg der Philosophie''. Hamburg: C.H. Beck, 1996.