Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)

 

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher whose work dealt with human nature, politics, language, religion and the nature of knowledge. He was born in Malmesbury, England, in 1588 and worked for the Cavendish family for much of his life. He travelled in Europe and met several leading thinkers of his time. He also translated Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War into English. His political thought developed during a period of civil and religious conflict in England, including the English Civil War. 

Hobbes is best known for Leviathan, published in 1651. The book asks a basic political question: why do human beings need political authority, and why should they obey it? His answer begins with a thought experiment known as the state of nature.

In the state of nature, Hobbes imagines human beings living without a common government capable of making and enforcing laws. People are naturally equal in the sense that even a physically weaker person can threaten a stronger one through planning or cooperation with others. Everyone has a right to preserve their own life. But because there is no common authority to settle disputes, distrust and competition can grow. Hobbes describes this condition as a state of war, famously calling it a “war of every man against every man.”

This does not mean that Hobbes thought people were constantly fighting. His point is that without a recognised authority, there is no reliable guarantee of peace. People have to remain prepared for possible conflict because they cannot be sure that others will respect their lives or possessions. Under such conditions, long-term cooperation becomes difficult.

Hobbes connects this problem with what he calls the human “restless desire for power after power.” People seek the means needed for their future security, and having power can provide greater control over uncertain circumstances. Fear, competition and the desire for self-preservation therefore become important parts of his account of political life. 

The solution is the social contract. People recognise that life without a common authority is insecure, so they agree with one another to give up their independent right to govern themselves and authorise a common sovereign. The agreement creates a commonwealth. For Hobbes, the sovereign needs sufficient power to make, interpret and enforce laws; otherwise the agreement cannot provide the security for which it was created. 

This leads to Hobbes's theory of sovereignty. Political authority must be strong enough to prevent society from falling back into violent conflict. He therefore gives the sovereign very broad authority. The sovereign may be an individual ruler or an assembly, but what matters is that political power is sufficiently unified to make its decisions effective. 

Hobbes's argument is sometimes reduced to the idea that people surrender all their freedom to an absolute ruler. His position is more specific. Individuals transfer their political rights to the sovereign because they want protection and peace, but he maintains that people retain a fundamental right of self-preservation. A person cannot simply be required to give up the instinct to defend their own life. 

Another important part of Hobbes's thought is his understanding of law and security. In a condition without government, there may be moral principles that reason can identify, which Hobbes calls the laws of nature, but those principles cannot reliably secure peace without an authority capable of enforcing agreements. Political order therefore depends on creating a power that people have reason to obey.

Hobbes was also a materialist philosopher. He tried to explain human thought and behaviour in terms of bodies, motion and physical processes rather than relying mainly on traditional Aristotelian explanations. His political philosophy grew out of this wider interest in human psychology, language, reasoning and the passions. In Leviathan, he begins with subjects such as sensation, imagination, speech, reason and desire before moving into politics. 

His ideas about language are also important. Hobbes believed that words are essential to reasoning but can also produce confusion when people use them carelessly. Political disagreements can become more serious when people attach different meanings to the same words. For him, clear definitions and careful reasoning were therefore part of political philosophy.

Religion occupies a substantial part of Leviathan as well. Hobbes examined biblical interpretation, prophecy, miracles and ecclesiastical authority. He also argued that religious institutions should not possess a political authority independent of the civil sovereign. These arguments made his work controversial in seventeenth-century England, where questions about religion and political authority were closely connected. 

Hobbes's political philosophy became one of the major foundations of modern social contract theory. Later thinkers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau used the idea of a state of nature and a social contract but reached different conclusions about government, liberty and political authority. 

Main ideas associated with Hobbes

State of nature: A condition without a common political authority, where insecurity and distrust make stable social cooperation difficult.

Social contract: People create political authority by agreeing with one another to establish a common power.

Sovereignty: Political authority must have enough power to make and enforce common rules.

Self-preservation: The desire to remain alive is fundamental to Hobbes's account of human action and political obligation.

Fear and security: Fear of violent death helps explain why rational people would accept a powerful political authority.

Laws of nature: Rules discovered through reason that direct people toward peace, cooperation and the preservation of life.

Commonwealth: The political order created when individuals authorise a sovereign power.

Major works

• The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic (1640)
• De Cive (1642)
• Leviathan (1651)
• De Corpore (1655)
• De Homine (1658)
• Behemoth; or, The Long Parliament (published 1682)

Hobbes died in 1679 at Hardwick Hall. His work remains central to political theory because it asks a question at the foundation of modern politics: what makes political authority necessary in the first place? His answer begins with insecurity, self-preservation and the need for a common power capable of keeping peace.