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By William E. Steinman:
Part 115, Thomas Hobbes I:
June 6, 2005:
One person who was caught up in the turmoil of the English civil war was Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). This is the famous English political philosopher who wrote the equally famous "Leviathan." This expounded his political philosophy that human beings are essentially selfish, but it was more than that. Leviathan was a major contribution to the ongoing political philosophy discussion that ultimately culminated in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. As an aside, leviathan is a noun from Jewish mythology meaning simply, unusually large. Hobbes' Leviathan was indeed that.
From his early life we get no indication that this kid was bound for great things. His father was a worthless rowdy bum masquerading as a vicar of the church. He abandon his family when Thomas was an infant. Hobbes was raised by his uncle in Malmesbury. He attended a couple of grade schools and ended up in Magdalene Hall at Oxford. Since he was an educated man, he easily obtained employment as private tutor when he graduated in 1608. His first pupil was William Cavendish who later became the second earl of Devonshire. As often happens, being a tutor to the well placed brought Hobbes the opportunity for travel. Europe was not that far away.
In Paris he was surely influenced by the works of Galileo and Kepler. Their work on planetary motion was proving the philosophy of Aristotle to be a bit off. Hobbes' solid classical world was beginning to disintegrate. He came home long enough to study some more classics and translate Thucydides. Thucydides was considered to be the greatest historian of his era. He wrote a critical history of the Peloponnesian War. For Hobbes, this work was a wake up call about what was happening in his own world. This was a time when Charles I was already in deep doo-doo. Hobbes saw Thucydides work as a warning against the instability of the budding efforts at democracy.
Then it was off to Paris again as tutor to the son of Sir Gervase Clifton. We must understand this position as tutor was more than just a teacher. The tutor was expected to be a knowledgeable companion to his pupil. Now-a-days we would call it a plum assignment. During this tenure Hobbes spent some time studying Euclid's "Elements" and verified the veracity of the proofs by tracing them back to the original premises. If you think that's easy, try it.
Euclid was a Greek mathematician whose works on plane geometry are still the basic text for beginning courses in geometry. His major contribution, however, was the use of a deductive system of proof in his work "Elements." Elements was a presentation of the mathematics of Euclid's time, spelled out in 13 books.
After the stay in Paris, Hobbes again came home in 1630 to become the tutor of the young William Cavendish. By this time William was the earl of Devonshire, his pop having kicked the bucket. This was when Hobbes published his first philosophical study in a short work titled "A Short Tract of First Principles." His theory was that the cause of all things lies in their diversity of motion. Don't ask me!
After that Hobbes again went to the continent as the tutor of the earl's son. There he met Marin Mersenne. Mersenne was a French theologian, natural philosopher, and mathematician. Although he is well known for his work in mathematics concerning prime numbers he also acted as a kind of focus for some of the super thinkers of that time. Keep in mind, though we are still in what can be called the Renaissance, we are just a few years from 1650 which marks the beginning of the so called Age of Enlightenment. In a very real way, the Enlightenment was but a continuation of the Renaissance wherein the focus changed from science to political philosophy.
Within Mersenne's circle of acquaintances at this time were Galileo and Hobbes. Out of this stimulation came Hobbes' plan for a philosophical trilogy. First was to be "Concerning Body" meant to demonstrate that physical phenomena can be explained in terms of motion. Second would be "Concerning Man" to show how body motions are requisite to human cognition. Finally he planned "Concerning Citizenship" wherein he would deduce the proper organization of men in society.
As often happens to those who write and philosophize, events of the real world came to influence Hobbes' decisions. He returned home in 1637 to discover a nation in turmoil with civil war looming near. Hobbes changed his publishing plans, deciding to go with his third book first. He intended to prove that the right to rule resided in the sovereign, in his case, King Charles. This is not to be mistaken for the case for divine right. It was simply Hobbes' doctrine that men can only live together in peace if they agree to subject themselves to an absolute sovereign. He wrote this argument, called "The Elements of Law, Nature, and Politic" in two parts. part one was "On Man"and part two was "On Citizenship." The themes of these pieces were carried over and became the heart of his "Leviathan."
He circulated this work in manuscript form in 1640 which was not a good time to be making political statements of any kind, unless you had the guns to back them up. The King's men were torqued because Hobbes claimed the first social contract is one of commonwealth. The Parliamentarians were torqued because Hobbes claimed the democratic sovereign will annihilate itself by transferring power to one man or a few. To verify that second statement, we can take a look at our current American situation wherein all power seems to be wielded by a very willful president with the consent of a very pliant congress.
With everyone looking for a piece of him, Hobbes decided Paris would be a nice place to visit. He cut and ran. Back he went to Mersenne and his pals, where in 1642 he wrote a few things including a work called "De Cive." This was a filling out of what he had previously written in "The Elements of Law." In this he dealt more fully with the issues of religion. Here he made his case for the Christian Church as being one with the sovereign. The boss of one is necessarily the boss of the other. That gives the King the right to interpret scripture, decide religious disputes, and determine the forms of worship.
I will continue with Hobbes in Part 116.
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