Discussion Topic
Overview of Thomas Hobbes' life and philosophy
Summary:
Thomas Hobbes was a 17th-century English philosopher best known for his work on political philosophy. His most famous work, Leviathan, outlines his belief in a strong central authority to avoid the chaos of the state of nature. Hobbes argued that humans are naturally selfish and brutish, necessitating a social contract to ensure peace and order. His ideas laid the groundwork for modern political theory.
What was Thomas Hobbes' philosophy?
The main aspect of Thomas Hobbes’ philosophy was his belief that people needed to live in absolute monarchies. According to Hobbes, this was the best form of government. It was the only form of government, he said, that could keep human society orderly and peaceful.
According to Hobbes, life in a world without government (in the “state of nature”) was terrible. He describes this as the war of “all against all.” In such a state, each person would be out for themselves. There would be no authority to prevent every person from stealing from, enslaving, or even killing any other person. People would have lived as individuals, trying to dominate others and trying to keep from being dominated. They would have been constantly at war with every other person in their area. In this anarchic situation, Hobbes famously said, life would be “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.”
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order to avoid this sort of a situation, people create governments. Hobbes said that the best form of government was an absolute monarchy. An absolute monarch would have the power to prevent people from abusing one another. Any other kind of government would lead to competition between people and, eventually, to a return to conflict between people. Society could only be safe and orderly if people voluntarily surrendered all their power to an absolute monarch. This is the most important aspect of the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes.
Who was Thomas Hobbes?
Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury (1588 – 1679) was an English political philosopher. He is distinguished by an attitude of rationalism and materialism. He thinks that most human and natural phenomena can be explained rationally and scientifically.
Although Hobbes was a prolific author who wrote treatises on many different subjects, including physics, optics, and rhetoric, his most influential work was the Leviathan, a work that set forth the seminal "social contract" theory of government authority. This theory argues that people cede a degree of personal liberty to governments in exchange for safety and security.
Hobbes famously stated that life in a state of nature was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" and that the natural state of humanity was perpetual war. He thus advocated strong, even authoritarian, government, as necessary to restrain the naturally chaotic and selfish impulses of humanity.