Thought of Thomas Hobbes

In this lesson from a TEACHER we review the Thomas Hobbes thought, English philosopher and one of the fathers of modern political philosophy. One of the most famous works of him, Leviathan, he lays the foundations of the contractual theory and had a great impact on the history of western political thought. His political philosophy moves between absolutism and liberalism, since, while he grants it all power to the State (protector), bet on individual rights, equality and the power of the town.

Hobbes, unlike Rousseau, asserts that the human being is bad by nature, which is summed up in his famous phrase, "man is a wolf to man." Therefore, in exchange for security, he cedes part of his freedom to the State, which must protect him. In case of not fulfilling its mission, the people are entitled to restore their ruler.

If you want to know more about the thinking of Thomas Hobbes, keep reading this article by a PROFESSOR. Start the class!

Index

1. Introduction to Hobbes's Thought
2. The Mechanistic Thought of Thomas Hobbes
3. Hobbes political thought
4. Hobbes's Philosophy of Religion

We make a brief introduction to the thought of Thomas Hobbes so that you contextualize the philosopher. Hobbes has been considered throughout the history of thought as a dark person. In fact, in 1666, in England his books were burned after being branded an atheist. Later, after his death, his works are publicly burned again. During his life, Hobbes had two great enemies with whom he maintained strong tensions: the Church of England and the University of Oxford.

Hobbes's work, however, is considered one of the fundamental in the break with the line of the Middle Ages and the beginning of Modernity. His descriptions of the reality of the time are brutal. He later he would say regarding his birth: "Fear and I were born twins." The phrase alludes to the fact that his mother gave birth prematurely due to the terror infused by the Spanish Invincible Armada, which was approaching the British shores.

His thought is key in the political thought of the modern philosophy. In the seventeenth century, there are many wars and Hobbes draws on this personal experience. He considers man to be an evil being because of the wars he sees. Homo homini lupus: Man is a wolf to man.

Steps to form a State

Therefore, according to Hobbes, the steps to form a state are the following:

• Hypothetical state: state of nature. In it, man is capable of killing, etc. (violence). The war of all among all generates that a coexistence cannot exist.
• That is why a survival pact is created.
• Freedom is renounced in order to live.
• A sovereign will rule. (Supporter of the absolute monarchy).
• The monarch governs us because man has decided it with the social pact. With this, Hobbes, initiates the foundations of the liberalism. Therefore, the king, can be limited by the wishes of the people.

Hobbes is a mechanistic philosopher (materialistic or physicalist), by stating thate all there is is pure physics and that the mind or the soul are simple inventions. The human being is like a machine, and it works in the same way. His mechanistic ideas are influenced by Gassendi, Descartes, Galileo Galilei or Bacon.

His thought thus breaks with scholastic philosophy and with the relationship between reason and faith, the fundamental problem throughout the Middle Ages. Hobbes I trusted in the limitless power of science, capable of explaining any natural phenomenon.

What is the heart really but a spring; and what the nerves but different fibers; And what about the joints if not wheels that give movement to the whole body? "

In her most popular work, Leviathan, Hobbes assures that all there is is matter, highlighting three dimensions in the bodies, namely: length, hardness and depth. Everything else simply does not exist, although there are bodies that human beings cannot perceive. These are the spirits that move and provide information to matter. Desire, he says, is the cause of the dynamism of bodies, which can make them come closer or separate.

Image: Docsity

Hobbes' political thought oscillates between the monarchical absolutism and parliamentarism, opting for an intermediate position between both positions. For the former, the legitimacy of the government (the king) comes directly from God. The parliamentarians, on the contrary, defend the power of the monarch, but, shared with the people.

In the Leviathan makes an exhibition about the nature of the human being, as well as the origin and organization of society. She assures that in a state of nature human beings are totally free and equal, which means that they are on an equal footing to do evil. This leads the human being to associate, giving up some of his natural rights, in exchange for the protection of the State (Leviathan, a monster). The fear of the monster that is the State, the human being is forced to comply with the agreement. This is how the social contract theory.

To avoid war and discord, says Hobbes, an authority is made to impose fear and respect on the individuals, who are naturally bad, and thus avoid the "war of all against all" or in Latin, bellum omnium against omnes.

“In such a condition, there is no place for industry; because its fruit is uncertain; and consequently there is no culture on earth; there is no navigation, nor use of the goods that can be imported by sea; no comfortable building; there are no instruments to move and remove things that require a lot of force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; without time account; without arts; no letters; no society; and that is the worst of all, continuous fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, lonely, poor, unpleasant, brutal and low ”.

We finish this summary of the thought of Thomas Hobbes to talk about the religious aspect. For Thomas Hobbes, God is an animal spirit, but unlike the creatures of the universe, it has no body. But this concept is something that humans will never understand, so God is unknowable. Regardless, whether or not to believe in God, Hobbes says, is just a matter of faith, leaving it out of scientific explanations. The only thing that man can know about God is that he is the first and motor cause of the world.

God, like the monarch, governs the entire universe through unbreakable rules, under threat. He does not run the world, but by inflicting fear, he is able to control it. God, says Hobbes, exists, of that there is no doubt, and this is all that human beings can know of him.

On By cive he says:

"[T] he likes it or not men, God is king of the entire universe. Although there are those who deny his existence or his providence, he is not for that reason expelled from his throne. (…) Only those who recognize that God is the rector of all things belong to the kingdom of God, that he has given his precepts to men and establishes punishments against transgressors "

Hobbes's God has a will, but not like that of humans, since it consists of desire, something unthinkable in God, since all desire implies a lack of something, and God does not lack anything. Divinity manifests through reason, of revelation and of his son Jesus Christ.

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