作者  (1588年4月5日～1679年12月4日)

Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury

托马斯·霍布斯

阅读霍布斯 Thomas Hobbes在百家争鸣的作品!!!

（Hobbes,1588―1679）英国哲学家,政治思想家。《利维坦》是近代西方第一部系统阐述国家学说的著作，在西方思想史上有很大的影响。在这部著作中，霍布斯提出“自然状态”和“国家起源说”两个概念，认为国家是人们为了遵守“自然法”而订立契约所形成的，主张利用“国教”来管束人民，维护“秩序”。霍布斯的其他著作有：《论物体》、《论社会》、《对笛卡儿形而上学的沉思的第三组诘难》等。

托马斯·霍布斯（英语：Thomas Hobbes　1588年4月5日－1679年12月4日），是英国的政治哲学家，创立了机械唯物主义的完整体系，认为宇宙是所有机械地运动着的广延物体的总和。他提出“自然状态”和国家起源说，认为国家是人们为了遵守“自然法”而订立契约所形成的，是一部人造的机器人，当君主可以履行该契约所约定的保证人民安全的职责时，人民应该对君主完全忠诚。他于1651年所出版的《利维坦》一书，为之后所有的西方政治哲学发展奠定根基。霍布斯的思想对其后的孟德斯鸠和让-雅克·卢梭有深刻影响，但同时，他的社会契约论与绝对君主制又有其独特性。

虽然霍布斯最知名的是政治哲学的著作，但亦也有许多其他主题的著作，包括了历史、几何学、伦理学、和在现代被称为政治学的哲学。除此之外，霍布斯认为人性的行为都是出于自私（self-centred）的，这也成为哲学人类学研究的重要理论。

早年生涯和教育

霍布斯1588年4月5日生于英格兰威尔特郡的马姆斯伯里 。他母亲因听闻西班牙无敌舰队将入侵英格兰的惊吓而早产，日后霍布斯常说：我母亲生了双胞胎，我的孪生兄弟是恐惧。而他的一生也确实是在社会局势动荡不安恐惧氛围中渡过的。 他父亲因与不是自己小教区的牧师打斗，被迫逃到伦敦，并将三名子女都寄托给他哥哥法兰西斯照顾。霍布斯从四岁开始在马姆斯伯里的教堂接受教育，接着他前往私人学校就读，由一名自牛津大学毕业的年轻人罗伯·拉蒂默教导。霍布斯是一名天赋极佳的学生，在大约1603年时他被送至牛津大学莫德林学院就读。当时莫德林学院的校长是严格的清教徒John Wilkinson，年轻的霍布斯也受了他的影响。

在大学里，霍布斯显然依著自己的规划学习；他很少被其他正规的学校课程所吸引。他直到1608年才取得了学位，但在这段期间中他曾经由院长James Hussee爵士的推荐，担任哈德威克男爵卡文迪许之子威廉的家庭教师（亦即后来的德文郡公爵），霍布斯一生中和这一家族的紧密关系也因此展开。

1610年霍布斯陪伴威廉在成年前的大旅游游遍欧洲大陆，因此有机会将他在牛津所接受的经院哲学教育与欧洲大陆具批判性的科学研究方式相比较。 这次大旅游，不仅接触到开普勒1609年出版的新天文学提出的行星椭圆形的运动轨迹日心说模型，同时，也读到伽利略1610年3月出版的星际信使，记述了利用望远镜观测到月球表面、金星的盈亏、木星的卫星、星座及银河等细节制图，使他的眼界大开。

回国后，威廉当选为议会的议员，霍布斯成了他的秘书，因而结识了英国诗人和剧作家本·詹生(Ben Jonson，约1572年6月11日~1637年8月6日）及当时在詹姆斯一世继位后仕途正走红的法兰西斯·培根。

1621年，培根因欠债及受贿，不准再从事公职，退隐从事著述，这段期间，霍布斯当他的秘书受到了培根哲学思想的启发，这时霍布斯的兴趣是文学，研究古希腊和拉丁文的著作。 1628年，议会起草权利请愿书----没有下议院的同意不可以征税、没有正当的程序不可监禁人民、军队不可扎营在人民房舍及和平时期不可宣布戒严。

霍布斯经过十余年的努力，将修昔底德希腊文的伯罗奔尼撒战争史翻译为英文，他有意的选在此时出版想要显示民主政体诸种弊害，借此表达对王室绝对权力的支持。 (注 : 他此时三十九岁，对利维坦的绝对君主权力的概念还未成形，还没有自己圆融的哲学思想，只是隐约不习惯下议院具有“草根性”新教议员的“民主运作方式”)

这本书翻译的时程很长----也正好对比詹姆斯一世统治期间爆发1605年的火药阴谋以及基层新教信仰的扩张，下议院的选出的新教代表的“草根性及斗争性”搅动了政治、社会上的秩序，1603年詹姆斯一世继承英格兰王位初期曾说：“下议院是具无脑的躯体。成员们以紊乱的举止表达他们的意见；在他们的会议中除了哭声、喊声和混乱，什么都听不见。我感到惊讶的是我的祖先居然曾经允许这样一个机构的存在”。 ( " The House of Commons is a body without a head. The members give their opinion in a disorderly manner; at their meetings nothing is heard but cries, shouts and confusion. I am surprised that my ancestors should ever have permitted such an institution to come into existence.")

霍布斯意识到希腊式的民主政府是有缺陷的，不仅无法赢得战争，也无法维持社会的稳定，他认为民主制度并不可取（注: 那时君权神授说是主流思想），“议会”只是一个国王枢密院附属的下级机构，“议会”的主要权力是在上议院，但是具备“草根性及斗争性”的“下议院”兴起的趋势正在成形。

虽然霍布斯曾担任弗兰西斯·培根的秘书，并和当时曾与一些文艺人士如本·琼森交往甚密，但他在1629年之后才开始扩展自己的哲学研究领域。他的赞助人—德文郡伯爵卡文迪许在1628年6月以三十五岁壮年据说因过度放纵(over-indulgence)去世，伯爵夫人不再雇请他。

不过霍布斯很快又找担任乔维斯·克利夫顿爵士（Gervase Clifton）之子的家庭教师。霍布斯为了这份工作一直到1631年卡文迪许家族又再次雇请他，不过这次教导的对象改为威廉之子了。接下来七年里霍布斯在教学的同时也不断拓展自己的哲学知识，思考一些主要的哲学辩论问题。他在1636年前往佛罗伦斯旅行，并在巴黎加入了马兰·梅森等人的哲学辩论团体。

在巴黎

霍布斯最初有兴趣的研究领域是物体的运动原理，尽管他对这一现象有高度兴趣，但他却不屑以物理学的实验方式进行研究。他自行构想出了一套物理运行的原理，并且终身都在研究这套虚拟的原理。他首先写下了几篇论文阐述这套原理的架构，证明其原理在物理现象的运动上都是可以解释的—至少在运动或机械运行上可以解释。接着他将人类与自然界分隔开来，在另一篇论文里显示了哪些肉体的运动会牵涉到特殊的知觉现象、知识、和感情，以此证明人类的特殊之处。最后他在总结的论文里阐述人类如何形成和参与社会，并主张社会应该避免人们退回“野蛮而不幸”的原始状态。因此他主张肉体、人、和国家这三者的现象应该要被一起研究。

霍布斯在1637年回到了祖国英国，当时英国的政治和社会局势动荡不安，霍布斯也无法再专心的进行哲学的研究了。不过，在他回到英国的最初几年里所写下的论文集The Elements of Law里，清楚显示了当时他的政治思想还没有被大幅改变，一直要到1640年代英国内战爆发为止。

1640年11月，英国长期国会取代了短期国会，国会与国王间的冲突迅速恶化，霍布斯觉得他的著作可能会招致政治的迫害，因此很快便逃至巴黎，在接下来11年内都没有再返回英国。在巴黎他重新加入了马兰·梅森的辩论团体，同时期他也写下了一篇对于笛卡尔《形而上学的沉思》一书的批评。

他也逐渐回复原先的研究工作，开始撰写研究的第三部分De Cive，并在1641年11月撰写完毕。虽然他最初只打算私下传阅，但这本书最后仍广泛流传。他接着重新著手研究的前两个部分，将大部分时间都花在研究上，那几年里他除了一篇有关光学的短文（1644）外便很少发表其他作品。他在哲学界建立起了良好的名声，并在1645年和笛卡尔等人一同被选出以调解有关化圆为方的学术争议。

英国内战

英国内战在1642年爆发，当保王派的局面于1644年中旬开始恶化后，许多国王的支持者开始流亡欧洲。当中许多逃至巴黎的人都与霍布斯相识，这使得霍布斯开始对政治产生兴趣，同时他的De Cive一书也重新发行并且广泛留传。

在1647年的一次偶然机会里，霍布斯成为了威尔士亲王查理斯的数学教师，当时查理斯正于7月左右前往泽西岛旅行。两人的师徒关系一直维持到1648年查理斯前往荷兰为止。

在许多流亡的英国保王派同乡的影响下，霍布斯决定撰写一本书以阐述政府的重要性、和政治混乱所造成的战争。全书架构是根基于1640年所写的一篇未发表的论文上。在霍布斯看来，国家就像一个伟大的巨人或怪物（利维坦）一般，它的身体由所有的人民所组成，它的生命则起源于人们对于一个公民政府的需求，否则社会便会陷入因人性求生本能而不断动乱的原始状态。全书以一篇“回顾与总结”作终，霍布斯总结道人民无论如何都不能违背与国家签下的社会契约，然而，霍布斯也讨论到了当利维坦无法再保护其人民时，这个社会契约便会等于无效。由于当时英国的局势纵容对于宗教教条的批判，霍布斯的理论也因此更无所忌讳。利维坦的初版名为Elementa philosophica de cive。

在撰写利维坦的期间霍布斯一直留在巴黎。1647年霍布斯染上了一场大病，使他卧倒在床长达6个月。在病况恢复后他又再度开始撰写，并保持稳定的进度直到将近1650年才完成全书，同时也将许多他之前的拉丁文作品翻译至英文。1650年，在等待利维坦出版的期间，他允许出版商将许多他早期的论文分为两本小册子出版。在1651年他又出版了他所翻译的De Cive。利维坦的印刷工作花费了不少时间，最后终于在1651年中旬上市，当时的书名是《利维坦，或教会国家和市民国家的实质、形式和权力》，初版的封面卷头插画（见下图）也非常知名，描绘出一个戴着王冠的利维坦巨人，一手持剑、一手持仗，巨人的身体则由无数的人民所构成。

这本书刚出版便造成了轰动。很快的霍布斯便接到了大量的赞美和批评，远远超出当时所有其他的思想家。不过，这本书的出版却迅速使他与其他逃亡的保王派关系决裂，迫使他不得不向革命派的英国政府求取保护。当时保王派试图杀掉他，因为书中的现实主义内容不但震怒了信仰圣公会的保王派、也震怒了信仰天主教的法国人。霍布斯逃回了英国，在1651年冬天抵达伦敦。在他向革命派政府表示归顺后，他被允许在伦敦的福特巷过着隐居的生活。

利维坦

《利维坦》（Leviathan）一书写于英国内战进行之时。此书分为三部分，霍布斯借此阐述了他对个人、社会、政府、法律和宗教等的理论，并重点论述了他关于社会基础与政府合法性的看法。在第一部分中，霍布斯阐述了他的唯物论的哲学观，为后两部的展开做了理论准备。第二部分为他的政府和法律论，也是他著作最为后人看重的部分。第三部分主要是宗教论，否定了罗马教会的统治，认为国家有权干预教会。

霍布斯认为人在自然状态中是侵略者，基于这个推理，政府要强大，法律要严格，执行要有力，这样才能避免人狼性的爆发。

《利维坦》内容概览

第1-5章：人体运作机制：表达唯物主义自然观和一般的哲学观点，说明宇宙是由物质的微粒构成，物体是独立的客观存在，物质永恒存在，既非人所创造，也非人所能消灭，一切物质都于运动状态中

第6章：欲望和恐惧：人们通过权衡欲望和恐惧做出自主选择

第7-11章：人与群体：人类如果在群体之中以及对他人的不同表现所采取的反应

第12-16章：国家的建立：出于人的理性，人们相互间同意订立契约，放弃各人的自然权利，把它托付给某一个人或一个由多人组成的集体，这个人或集体能把大家的意志化为一个意志，能把大家的人格统一为一个人格；大家则服从他的意志，服从他的判断

第17-31章：政府权力，统治和人民

第31章始：论基督教国家与论黑暗王国（指罗马教会）

人类的自然状态下，有一些人可能比别人更强壮或更聪明，但没有一个会强壮到或聪明到不怕在暴力下死亡。当受到死亡威胁时，在自然状态下的人必然会尽一切所能来保护他自己。霍布斯认为保护自己免于暴力死亡就是人类最高的需要，而权力就是来自于这种需要。在霍布斯所描述的“自然状态”（state of nature）下，每个人都需要世界上的每样东西，也就有对每样东西的权力。但由于世界上的东西都是不足的，所以这种争夺权力的“所有人对所有人的战争”（every man is enemy to every man）便永远不会结束。而人生在这种自然状态下便是“孤独、贫困、污秽、野蛮又短暂的”（solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short）（xiii）。

但战争并不是对人最有利的。霍布斯认为人考虑自身安全和免被他人侵犯而渴望结束战争——“使人倾向于和平的热忱其实是怕死，以及对于舒适生活之必要东西的欲求和殷勤获取这些东西的盼望”（xiii, 14）。霍布斯认为社会若要和平就必需要有社会契约（Social contract）。霍布斯认为社会是一群人服从于一个人（Single-ruler form）的威权之下，而每个个人（individual）将自然权力交付给这威权，让它来维持内部的和平、并抵抗外来的敌人。这个主权，无论是君主制（Monarchy）、贵族制（Aristocracy）或民主制（Democracy）（霍布斯较倾向君主制），都必须是一个强而有威信的“利维坦”，即在一个绝对的威权之下，方能令社会契约实行。对霍布斯而言，法律的作用就是要确保契约的执行。

利维坦国家在防止侵略、发动战争对抗他人、或是任何有关保持国家和平方面的事务上是有无限威权的。至于其他方面，国家是完全不管的。只要一个人不去伤害别人，国家主权是不会去干涉他的（不过，由于在国家主权之上并没有任何更高的权力，没有人可以防止国家破坏这规则）。在事实上，这种主权的行使程度是以主权对自然法的责任为限的。虽然主权并没有立法的责任，但它也有义务遵守那些指定了和平界线的法律（自然法， the law of nature），也因此这种限制使得主权的权威必须遵守一种道德责任。一个主权也必须保持国内的平等，因为普通人民都会被主权的光辉所掩盖；霍布斯将这种光辉与太阳的阳光相比，既然阳光耀眼无比，普通人也会因此褪色。在本质上，霍布斯的政治原则是“不要伤害”，他的道德黄金律是“己所不欲，勿施于人”（xv, 35）。也是从这里霍布斯的道德观与一般基督教的黄金律“己所欲，施于人”产生差异，霍布斯认为那只会造成社会混乱罢了。

利维坦写于英国内战期间，书里的大多数篇幅都用于证明强大的中央权威才能够避免邪恶的混乱和内战。任何对此权威的滥用都会造成对和平的破坏。霍布斯也否定了权力分立的理想：他认为主权必须有全盘控制公民、军事、司法、和教会的权力。在利维坦中，霍布斯明确的指出主权拥有改变人民信仰和理念的权威，如果人民不这样做便会引起混乱。他本人即宣称愿意服从主权的命令改变信仰。

在英文里，有时候人们会以“霍布斯主义”（Hobbesian）一词来形容一种无限制的、自私、而野蛮的竞争情况，不过这种用法其实是错误的：首先，《利维坦》里描绘出了这种情况、但仅仅是为了批判之；第二，霍布斯本人其实是相当胆小而书呆子气的。此外，在利维坦出版后，霍布斯也经常被人用以形容无神论以及“强权就是公理”的观念，尽管这些都不是霍布斯的初衷。

争论

与布兰豪

在回到英国之后，霍布斯重新开始进行他的哲学原理研究。他在1654年出版了De Corpore，同年也发表了一篇短论文Of Liberty and Necessity，由一名与霍布斯熟识的主教约翰·布兰豪（John Bramhall）出版。布兰豪是一名忠诚的阿米纽教派信徒，他在认识霍布斯之后便经常与之辩论，两人以书信私下往来的方式进行辩论和交换意见，不过霍布斯并没有公开这些信函。后来一名霍布斯的法国友人偶然间发现了一封霍布斯回信的抄本，便将其公开出版并附上“豪华的赞美言词”。布兰豪对此相当不满，于是在1655年将所有两人来往的书信都公诸于世（以A Defence of the True Liberty of Human Actions from Antecedent or Extrinsic Necessity为标题出版）。接着霍布斯在1656年写下了“论点石破天惊”的Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance回复主教，这封信或许是第一篇详细阐述了决定论的心理学原则的文件，霍布斯的理论也成为了自由意志争论的历史中重要的一部分。主教在1658年以一篇Castigations of Mr Hobbes's Animadversions回复，不过霍布斯并没有注意到这份回复。

与沃利斯

除了与布兰豪的争论外，霍布斯自从于1655年出版De Corpore开始也与其他学者产生不少冲突。在《利维坦》中他挑战了当时的学术界。在1654年，牛津大学的天文学教授塞思·沃德（Seth Ward）在一篇名为Vindiciae academiarum的文章中回复了霍布斯对于学术界的挑战。霍布斯在De Corpore哲学原理中的许多错误—尤其是在数学上的错误也招致了几何学教授约翰·沃利斯的批评。沃利斯在1655年出版的Elenchus geomeiriae Hobbianae中详细解释了霍布斯哲学原理的错误，他批评霍布斯以逻辑推理的方式作为数学演算的主轴，并揭露了霍布斯在数学上的许多漏洞。由于霍布斯在演算上缺乏精确的计算，造成他经常使用证据不足的假设来解决原理的问题，由于他的兴趣只限于几何学上，因此他对于数学的整体领域并没有很清楚的概念。这些问题都使得霍布斯的哲学原理大受批评。最后霍布斯在1656年发行英文版本的De Corpore时便删除了一些被沃利斯揭发的严重错误，但他仍然在1656年的Six Lessons to the Professors of Mathematics一系列文章里反驳沃利斯的批评。沃利斯接着写了一篇论文反驳霍布斯的论点，并趁著霍布斯发行De Corpore英文译本的期间继续批评他在数学上的错误，霍布斯则以数篇论文反击。但沃利斯轻易的以一篇回复（Hobbiani puncti dispunctio, 1657）击倒霍布斯的论点。最后霍布斯拒绝再回复沃利斯，两人的争论暂时停息。

霍布斯在1658年发表了他的哲学原理的最后一个部分，将他已经计划二十年之久的整套原理加以总结。他在De Homine一书里阐述了整套原理的运作，这套哲学原理也与他在政治哲学上的主张相连。同时期沃利斯则发表了微积分的一般原理（Mathesis universatis, 1657）。这时研究工作已经告一段落的霍布斯决定再度挑起争论，他在1660年春季再度发起攻势，将六篇论文以Examinatio et emendatio mathematicae hodiernae qualis explicatur in libris Johannis Wallisii为标体出版，批评当时新的数学分析方式。不过这次沃利斯并没有上当，选择沉默以对。霍布斯接着试着提起另一个古老的数学问题—加倍立方体问题（Doubling the cube），他私下从法国一位匿名人士信中得知了问题的解答，试图以这个问题混淆他的批评者。但很快的沃利斯便公开的驳倒了这个解答。霍布斯在1661年底重新以拉丁文出版了这一系列论文（并稍微修改之）并加上替自己辩护文章，在这本名为Dialogus physicus, sive De natura aeris的书中霍布斯还攻击了罗伯特·波义耳及其他沃利斯的朋友。这次霍布斯改变一贯论调，主张波义耳等人的实验纪录—1660年的New Experiments touching the Spring of the Air只不过是证实了他早年提出的推测理论，他并且警告这些新生代的“学者”必须接手他早年未完成的研究进度，否则既有的实验结果便会毫无进展。然而波义耳等人很轻易的便驳倒了这种站不住脚的批评，紧接着沃利斯写了一篇名为Hobbius heauton-timorumenos（1662）的讽刺作品来挖苦霍布斯。在这次惨痛教训之后霍布斯便不再参与科学界的争论了。 ...

几何学

在经过一段时间的沉寂后，霍布斯又开始了他人生中第三阶段的争议行动，并且一直维持至他九十岁为止。第一份引发争议的文章是在1666年发表的De principiis et ratiocinatione geometrarum，霍布斯以此攻击当时的几何学界教授。三年之后他将他的三篇数学论文集中于Quadratura circuli, Cubatio sphaerae, Duplicitio cubii发表，很快的这些文章再度被沃利斯驳倒，但霍布斯仍不放弃，又出版了回应批评的版本，但沃利斯仍在当年年底再次驳倒新的版本。这一系列的争论一直要维持至1678年为止。

晚年

除了出版大量论述欠佳而又饱受批评的数学和几何学著作之外，霍布斯也继续撰写并出版哲学的著作。在1660年英国王政复辟后，“霍布斯主义”这一词开始被用于称呼那些“反对热爱道德和信仰”的态度。刚复辟的年轻国王查理斯二世幼年时曾经是霍布斯的弟子，在他想起霍布斯后，他将霍布斯召至王宫并赏赐他£100的退休金。

在1666年，英国下议院通过了一项对所有无神论者和“不敬神者”不利的法案，这时查理斯国王再次保护了霍布斯免受迫害。当时霍布斯的《利维坦》被视为是无神论和亵渎的代表作，霍布斯很担心会被贴上异教徒的标签，于是他烧掉了许多可能会对自己不利的文稿。这次危机也使霍布斯开始检视异端的真相，他将研究结果集合于三篇简短的论文上，并将其收录至拉丁文版《利维坦》的附录中，于1668年在阿姆斯特丹出版。在这几篇论文中霍布斯指出，除了违反尼西亚信经以外其他的理论都不能被视为异端，并且主张《利维坦》一书仍然符合尼西亚信经的原则。近年来，《利维坦》的拉丁文版益受学者重视，因为其中保存了一些霍布斯晚年对其早期理论的发展和补充。

由于国王的保护，下议院通过的法案最后并没有对霍布斯造成太大伤害，不过霍布斯从此不能在英格兰发表任何有关人类行为的著作了。他在1688年的著作由于无法通过英格兰的出版品审查机构，只得改在阿姆斯特丹出版。其他的许多著作则要直到他死后才得以出版。有时候霍布斯甚至被禁止回复他在学术辩论中遭受的批评。尽管如此，霍布斯在国外的名声非常高，当时前往英格兰旅游的学者和名人都会抽空拜访霍布斯，向这位老哲学家表达敬意。

霍布斯最后的作品是在1672年出版的一篇拉丁文自传，同时他还将奥德赛翻译为四本“粗劣的”英文译本，并在1675年完成了整套奥德赛和伊利亚特的翻译。

霍布斯在1679年染上了膀胱疾病，并且死于接踵而来的中风发作，享年九十一岁。他被葬在德贝郡一座教堂的墓地里。

重要著作

• 1629. 翻译修昔底德的《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》
• 1650. The Elements of Law, Natural and Political, 写于1640年
  • Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policie
  • De Corpore Politico
• 1651-8. Elementa philosophica
  • 1642. De Cive （拉丁文）
  • 1651. Philosophical Rudiments concerning Government and Society （De Cive的英文译本）
  • 1655. De Corpore （拉丁文）
  • 1656. De Corpore （英文翻译）
  • 1658. De Homine （拉丁文）
• 1651. 利维坦，或教会国家和市民国家的实质、形式和权力. Online.
• 1656. Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance
• 1668. 利维坦的拉丁文翻译
• 1675. 翻译荷马的奥德赛和伊利亚特为英文
• 1681. 死后出版的Behemoth, or The Long Parliament （写于1668年）。

参考文献

• Macpherson, C. B. (1962). The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Martinich A.P. (1995). A Hobbes Dictionary (Blackwell Philosopher Dictionaries). Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19262-X & ISBN 0-631-19261-1
• Robinson, Dave & Groves, Judy (2003). Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X.
• Strauss, Leo (1936). The Political Philosophy of Hobbes; Its Basis and Its Genesis. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Strauss, Leo (1959). "On the Basis of Hobbes's Political Philosophy," in What Is Political Philosophy?, Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, chap. 7.

  

Thomas Hobbes (/hɒbz/ HOBZ; sometimes known as Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679), was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, the physics of gases, theology, and ethics, as well as philosophy in general.

Biography

Early life

Thomas Hobbes was born on 5 April 1588, in Westport, now part of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. Having been born prematurely when his mother heard of the coming invasion of the Spanish Armada, Hobbes later reported that "my mother gave birth to twins: myself and fear." Hobbes had a brother, Edmund, about two years older, as well as a sister.

Although Thomas Hobbes' childhood is unknown to a large extent, as is his mother's name, it is known that Hobbes' father, Thomas Sr., was the vicar of both Charlton and Westport. Hobbes' father was uneducated, according to John Aubrey, Hobbes' biographer, and he "disesteemed learning." Thomas Sr. was involved in a fight with the local clergy outside his church, forcing him to leave London. As result, the family was left in the care of Thomas Sr.'s older brother, Francis, a wealthy glove manufacturer with no family of his own.

Education

Hobbes Jr. was educated at Westport church from age four, passed to the Malmesbury school, and then to a private school kept by a young man named Robert Latimer, a graduate of the University of Oxford. Hobbes was a good pupil, and between 1601 and 1602 he went up to Magdalen Hall, the predecessor to Hertford College, Oxford, where he was taught scholastic logic and physics. The principal, John Wilkinson, was a Puritan and had some influence on Hobbes. Before going up to Oxford, Hobbes translated Euripides' Medea from Greek into Latin verse.

At university, Thomas Hobbes appears to have followed his own curriculum as he was little attracted by the scholastic learning. Leaving Oxford, Hobbes completed his B.A. degree by incorporation at St John's College, Cambridge in 1608. He was recommended by Sir James Hussey, his master at Magdalen, as tutor to William, the son of William Cavendish, Baron of Hardwick (and later Earl of Devonshire), and began a lifelong connection with that family. William Cavendish was elevated to the peerage on his father's death in 1626, holding it for two years before his death in 1628. His son, also William, likewise became the 3rd Earl of Devonshire. Hobbes served as a tutor and secretary to both men. The 1st Earl's younger brother, Charles Cavendish, had two sons who were patrons of Hobbes. The elder son, William Cavendish, later 1st Duke of Newcastle, was a leading supporter of Charles I during the civil war personally financing an army for the king, having been governor to the Prince of Wales, Charles James, Duke of Cornwall. It was to this William Cavendish that Hobbes dedicated his Elements of Law.

Hobbes became a companion to the younger William and they both took part in a grand tour of Europe between 1610 and 1615. Hobbes was exposed to European scientific and critical methods during the tour, in contrast to the scholastic philosophy that he had learned in Oxford. In Venice, Hobbes made the acquaintance of Fulgenzio Micanzio, an associate of Paolo Sarpi, a Venetian scholar and statesman.

His scholarly efforts at the time were aimed at a careful study of classic Greek and Latin authors, the outcome of which was, in 1628, his great translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, the first translation of that work into English from a Greek manuscript.It has been argued that three of the discourses in the 1620 publication known as Horea Subsecivae: Observations and Discourses also represent the work of Hobbes from this period.

Although he did associated with literary figures like Ben Jonson and briefly worked as Francis Bacon's amanuensis, translating several of his Essays into Latin, he did not extend his efforts into philosophy until after 1629. In June 1628, his employer Cavendish, then the Earl of Devonshire, died of the plague, and his widow, the countess Christian, dismissed Hobbes.

In Paris (1630–1637)

Hobbes soon found work as a tutor to Gervase Clifton, the son of Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet mostly spent in Paris until 1631. Thereafter, he again found work with the Cavendish family, tutoring William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, the eldest son of his previous pupil. Over the next seven years, as well as tutoring, he expanded his own knowledge of philosophy, awakening in him curiosity over key philosophic debates. He visited Galileo Galilei in Florence while he was under house arrest upon condemnation, in 1636, and was later a regular debater in philosophic groups in Paris, held together by Marin Mersenne.

Hobbes's first area of study was an interest in the physical doctrine of motion and physical momentum. Despite his interest in this phenomenon, he disdained experimental work as in physics. He went on to conceive the system of thought to the elaboration of which he would devote his life. His scheme was first to work out, in a separate treatise, a systematic doctrine of body, showing how physical phenomena were universally explicable in terms of motion, at least as motion or mechanical action was then understood. He then singled out Man from the realm of Nature and plants. Then, in another treatise, he showed what specific bodily motions were involved in the production of the peculiar phenomena of sensation, knowledge, affections and passions whereby Man came into relation with Man. Finally, he considered, in his crowning treatise, how Men were moved to enter into society, and argued how this must be regulated if people were not to fall back into "brutishness and misery". Thus he proposed to unite the separate phenomena of Body, Man, and the State.

In England (1637–1641)

Hobbes came back home, in 1637, to a country riven with discontent, which disrupted him from the orderly execution of his philosophic plan. However, by the end of the Short Parliament in 1640, he had written a short treatise called The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic. It was not published and only circulated as a manuscript among his acquaintances. A pirated version, however, was published about ten years later. Although it seems that much of The Elements of Law was composed before the sitting of the Short Parliament, there are polemical pieces of the work that clearly mark the influences of the rising political crisis. Nevertheless, many (though not all) elements of Hobbes's political thought were unchanged between The Elements of Law and Leviathan, which demonstrates that the events of the English Civil War had little effect on his contractarian methodology. However, the arguments in Leviathan were modified from The Elements of Law when it came to the necessity of consent in creating political obligation: Hobbes wrote in The Elements of Law that Patrimonial kingdoms were not necessarily formed by the consent of the governed, while in Leviathan he argued that they were. This was perhaps a reflection either of Hobbes's thoughts about the engagement controversy or of his reaction to treatises published by Patriarchalists, such as Sir Robert Filmer, between 1640 and 1651.^{[citation needed]}

When in November 1640 the Long Parliament succeeded the Short, Hobbes felt that he was in disfavour due to the circulation of his treatise and fled to Paris. He did not return for 11 years. In Paris, he rejoined the coterie around Mersenne and wrote a critique of the Meditations on First Philosophy of Descartes, which was printed as third among the sets of "Objections" appended, with "Replies" from Descartes, in 1641. A different set of remarks on other works by Descartes succeeded only in ending all correspondence between the two.

Hobbes also extended his own works in a way, working on the third section, De Cive, which was finished in November 1641. Although it was initially only circulated privately, it was well received, and included lines of argumentation that were repeated a decade later in Leviathan. He then returned to hard work on the first two sections of his work and published little except a short treatise on optics (Tractatus opticus) included in the collection of scientific tracts published by Mersenne as Cogitata physico-mathematica in 1644. He built a good reputation in philosophic circles and in 1645 was chosen with Descartes, Gilles de Roberval and others to referee the controversy between John Pell and Longomontanus over the problem of squaring the circle.

Civil War Period (1642–1651)

The English Civil War began in 1642, and when the royalist cause began to decline in mid-1644, many royalists came to Paris and were known to Hobbes. This revitalised Hobbes's political interests and the De Cive was republished and more widely distributed. The printing began in 1646 by Samuel de Sorbiere through the Elsevier press in Amsterdam with a new preface and some new notes in reply to objections.

In 1647, Hobbes took up a position as mathematical instructor to the young Charles, Prince of Wales, who had come to Paris from Jersey around July. This engagement lasted until 1648 when Charles went to Holland.

The company of the exiled royalists led Hobbes to produce Leviathan, which set forth his theory of civil government in relation to the political crisis resulting from the war. Hobbes compared the State to a monster (leviathan) composed of men, created under pressure of human needs and dissolved by civil strife due to human passions. The work closed with a general "Review and Conclusion", in response to the war, which answered the question: Does a subject have the right to change allegiance when a former sovereign's power to protect is irrevocably lost?

During the years of composing Leviathan, Hobbes remained in or near Paris. In 1647, a serious illness that nearly killed him disabled him for six months. On recovering, he resumed his literary task and completed it by 1650. Meanwhile, a translation of De Cive was being produced; scholars disagree about whether it was Hobbes who translated it.

In 1650, a pirated edition of The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic was published. It was divided into two small volumes: Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policie; and De corpore politico, or the Elements of Law, Moral and Politick.

In 1651, the translation of De Cive was published under the title Philosophicall Rudiments concerning Government and Society. Also, the printing of the greater work proceeded, and finally appeared in mid-1651, titled Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common Wealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil. It had a famous title-page engraving depicting a crowned giant above the waist towering above hills overlooking a landscape, holding a sword and a crozier and made up of tiny human figures. The work had immediate impact. Soon, Hobbes was more lauded and decried than any other thinker of his time. The first effect of its publication was to sever his link with the exiled royalists, who might well have killed him. The secularist spirit of his book greatly angered both Anglicans and French Catholics. Hobbes appealed to the revolutionary English government for protection and fled back to London in winter 1651. After his submission to the Council of State, he was allowed to subside into private life in Fetter Lane.^{[citation needed]}

Later life

In 1658, Hobbes published the final section of his philosophical system, completing the scheme he had planned more than 20 years before. De Homine consisted for the most part of an elaborate theory of vision. The remainder of the treatise dealt cursorily with some of the topics more fully treated in the Human Nature and the Leviathan. In addition to publishing some controversial writings on mathematics and physics, Hobbes also continued to produce philosophical works.

From the time of the Restoration, he acquired a new prominence; "Hobbism" became a byword for all that respectable society ought to denounce. The young king, Hobbes' former pupil, now Charles II, remembered Hobbes and called him to the court to grant him a pension of £100.

The king was important in protecting Hobbes when, in 1666, the House of Commons introduced a bill against atheism and profaneness. That same year, on 17 October 1666, it was ordered that the committee to which the bill was referred "should be empowered to receive information touching such books as tend to atheism, blasphemy and profaneness... in particular... the book of Mr. Hobbes called the Leviathan." Hobbes was terrified at the prospect of being labelled a heretic, and proceeded to burn some of his compromising papers. At the same time, he examined the actual state of the law of heresy. The results of his investigation were first announced in three short Dialogues added as an Appendix to his Latin translation of Leviathan, published in Amsterdam in 1668. In this appendix, Hobbes aimed to show that, since the High Court of Commission had been put down, there remained no court of heresy at all to which he was amenable, and that nothing could be heresy except opposing the Nicene Creed, which, he maintained, Leviathan did not do.

The only consequence that came of the bill was that Hobbes could never thereafter publish anything in England on subjects relating to human conduct. The 1668 edition of his works was printed in Amsterdam because he could not obtain the censor's licence for its publication in England. Other writings were not made public until after his death, including Behemoth: the History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England and of the Counsels and Artifices by which they were carried on from the year 1640 to the year 1662. For some time, Hobbes was not even allowed to respond, whatever his enemies tried. Despite this, his reputation abroad was formidable.

His final works were an autobiography in Latin verse in 1672, and a translation of four books of the Odyssey into "rugged" English rhymes that in 1673 led to a complete translation of both Iliad and Odyssey in 1675.

Death

In October 1679 Hobbes suffered a bladder disorder, and then a paralytic stroke, from which he died on 4 December 1679, aged 91. His last words were said to have been "A great leap in the dark", uttered in his final conscious moments. His body was interred in St John the Baptist's Church, Ault Hucknall, in Derbyshire.

Political theory

Hobbes, influenced by contemporary scientific ideas, had intended for his political theory to be a quasi-geometrical system, in which the conclusions followed inevitably from the premises. The main practical conclusion of Hobbes' political theory is that state or society cannot be secure unless at the disposal of an absolute sovereign. From this follows the view that no individual can hold rights of property against the sovereign, and that the sovereign may therefore take the goods of its subjects without their consent. This particular view owes its significance to it being first developed in the 1630s when Charles I had sought to raise revenues without the consent of Parliament, and therefore of his subjects.

Leviathan

In Leviathan, Hobbes set out his doctrine of the foundation of states and legitimate governments and creating an objective science of morality.^{[citation needed]} Much of the book is occupied with demonstrating the necessity of a strong central authority to avoid the evil of discord and civil war.

Beginning from a mechanistic understanding of human beings and their passions, Hobbes postulates what life would be like without government, a condition which he calls the state of nature. In that state, each person would have a right, or license, to everything in the world. This, Hobbes argues, would lead to a "war of all against all" (bellum omnium contra omnes). The description contains what has been called one of the best-known passages in English philosophy, which describes the natural state humankind would be in, were it not for political community:

In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

In such states, people fear death and lack both the things necessary to commodious living, and the hope of being able to obtain them. So, in order to avoid it, people accede to a social contract and establish a civil society. According to Hobbes, society is a population and a sovereign authority, to whom all individuals in that society cede some right for the sake of protection. Power exercised by this authority cannot be resisted, because the protector's sovereign power derives from individuals' surrendering their own sovereign power for protection. The individuals are thereby the authors of all decisions made by the sovereign, "he that complaineth of injury from his sovereign complaineth that whereof he himself is the author, and therefore ought not to accuse any man but himself, no nor himself of injury because to do injury to one's self is impossible". There is no doctrine of separation of powers in Hobbes's discussion. According to Hobbes, the sovereign must control civil, military, judicial and ecclesiastical powers, even the words.

Opposition

John Bramhall

In 1654 a small treatise, Of Liberty and Necessity, directed at Hobbes, was published by Bishop John Bramhall. Bramhall, a strong Arminian, had met and debated with Hobbes and afterwards wrote down his views and sent them privately to be answered in this form by Hobbes. Hobbes duly replied, but not for publication. However, a French acquaintance took a copy of the reply and published it with "an extravagantly laudatory epistle". Bramhall countered in 1655, when he printed everything that had passed between them (under the title of A Defence of the True Liberty of Human Actions from Antecedent or Extrinsic Necessity).

In 1656, Hobbes was ready with The Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance, in which he replied "with astonishing force" to the bishop. As perhaps the first clear exposition of the psychological doctrine of determinism, Hobbes's own two pieces were important in the history of the free-will controversy. The bishop returned to the charge in 1658 with Castigations of Mr Hobbes's Animadversions, and also included a bulky appendix entitled The Catching of Leviathan the Great Whale.

John Wallis

Hobbes opposed the existing academic arrangements, and assailed the system of the original universities in Leviathan. He went on to publish De Corpore, which contained not only tendentious views on mathematics but also an erroneous proof of the squaring of the circle. This all led mathematicians to target him for polemics and sparked John Wallis to become one of his most persistent opponents. From 1655, the publishing date of De Corpore, Hobbes and Wallis went round after round trying to disprove each other's positions. After years of debate, the spat over proving the squaring of the circle gained such notoriety that it has become one of the most infamous feuds in mathematical history.

Religious views

Hobbes was accused of atheism by several contemporaries; Bramhall accused him of teachings that could lead to atheism. This was an important accusation, and Hobbes himself wrote, in his answer to Bramhall's The Catching of Leviathan, that "atheism, impiety, and the like are words of the greatest defamation possible". Hobbes always defended himself from such accusations. In more recent times also, much has been made of his religious views by scholars such as Richard Tuck and J. G. A. Pocock, but there is still widespread disagreement about the exact significance of Hobbes's unusual views on religion.

As Martinich has pointed out, in Hobbes's time the term "atheist" was often applied to people who believed in God but not in divine providence, or to people who believed in God but also maintained other beliefs that were inconsistent with such belief. He says that this "sort of discrepancy has led to many errors in determining who was an atheist in the early modern period". In this extended early modern sense of atheism, Hobbes did take positions that strongly disagreed with church teachings of his time. For example, he argued repeatedly that there are no incorporeal substances, and that all things, including human thoughts, and even God, heaven, and hell are corporeal, matter in motion. He argued that "though Scripture acknowledge spirits, yet doth it nowhere say, that they are incorporeal, meaning thereby without dimensions and quantity". (In this view, Hobbes claimed to be following Tertullian.) Like John Locke, he also stated that true revelation can never disagree with human reason and experience, although he also argued that people should accept revelation and its interpretations for the reason that they should accept the commands of their sovereign, in order to avoid war.

While in Venice on tour, Hobbes made the acquaintance of Fulgenzio Micanzio, a close associate of Paolo Sarpi, who had written against the pretensions of the papacy to temporal power in response to the Interdict of Pope Paul V against Venice, which refused to recognise papal prerogatives. James I had invited both men to England in 1612. Micanzio and Sarpi had argued that God willed human nature, and that human nature indicated the autonomy of the state in temporal affairs. When he returned to England in 1615, William Cavendish maintained correspondence with Micanzio and Sarpi, and Hobbes translated the latter's letters from Italian, which were circulated among the Duke's circle.

Works (bibliography)

• 1602. Latin translation of Euripides' Medea (lost).
• 1620. "A Discourse of Tacitus", "A Discourse of Rome", and "A Discourse of Laws." In The Horae Subsecivae: Observation and Discourses.
• 1626. "De Mirabilis Pecci, Being the Wonders of the Peak in Darby-shire" (publ. 1636) — a poem on the Seven Wonders of the Peak
• 1629. Eight Books of the Peloponnesian Warre, translation with an Introduction of Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
• 1630. A Short Tract on First Principles.
  • Authorship doubtful, as this work is attributed by some critics to Robert Payne.
• 1637. A Briefe of the Art of Rhetorique
  • Molesworth edition title: The Whole Art of Rhetoric.
  • Authorship probable: While Schuhmann (1998) firmly rejects the attribution of this work to Hobbes, a preponderance of scholarship disagrees with Schuhmann's idiosyncratic assessment. Schuhmann disagrees with historian Quentin Skinner, who would come to agree with Schuhmann.
• 1639. Tractatus opticus II
• 1640. Elements of Law, Natural and Politic
  • Initially circulated only in handwritten copies; without Hobbes's permission, the first printed edition would be in 1650.
• 1641. Objectiones ad Cartesii Meditationes de Prima Philosophia — 3rd series of Objections
• 1642. Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Tertia de Cive (Latin, 1st limited ed.).
• 1643. De Motu, Loco et Tempore
  • First edition (1973) title: Thomas White's De Mundo Examined
• 1644. Part of the "Praefatio to Mersenni Ballistica." In F. Marini Mersenni minimi Cogitata physico-mathematica. In quibus tam naturae quàm artis effectus admirandi certissimis demonstrationibus explicantur.
• 1644. "Opticae, liber septimus" (written in 1640). In Universae geometriae mixtaeque mathematicae synopsis, edited by Marin Mersenne.
  • Molesworth edition (OL V, pp. 215–48) title: "Tractatus Opticus"
• 1646. A Minute or First Draught of the Optiques
  • Molesworth published only the dedication to Cavendish and the conclusion in EW VII, pp. 467–71.
• 1646. Of Liberty and Necessity (publ. 1654)
  • Published without the permission of Hobbes
• 1647. Elementa Philosophica de Cive
  • Second expanded edition with a new Preface to the Reader
• 1650. Answer to Sir William Davenant's Preface before Gondibert
• 1650. Human Nature: or The fundamental Elements of Policie
  • Includes first thirteen chapters of The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic
  • Published without Hobbes's authorisation
• 1650. The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic (pirated ed.)
  • Repackaged to include two parts:
    • "Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policie," ch. 14–19 of Elements, Part One (1640)
    • "De Corpore Politico", Elements, Part Two (1640)
• 1651. Philosophicall Rudiments concerning Government and Society — English translation of De Cive
• 1651. Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil
• 1654. Of Libertie and Necessitie, a Treatise
• 1655. De Corpore (in Latin)
• 1656. Elements of Philosophy, The First Section, Concerning Body — anonymous English translation of De Corpore
• 1656. Six Lessons to the Professor of Mathematics
• 1656. The Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance — reprint of Of Libertie and Necessitie, a Treatise, with the addition of Bramhall's reply and Hobbes's reply to Bramahall's reply.
• 1657. Stigmai, or Marks of the Absurd Geometry, Rural Language, Scottish Church Politics, and Barbarisms of John Wallis
• 1658. Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Secunda De Homine
• 1660. Examinatio et emendatio mathematicae hodiernae qualis explicatur in libris Johannis Wallisii
• 1661. Dialogus physicus, sive De natura aeris
• 1662. Problematica Physica
  • English translation (1682) title: Seven Philosophical Problems
• 1662. Seven Philosophical Problems, and Two Propositions of Geometru — published posthumously
• 1662. Mr. Hobbes Considered in his Loyalty, Religion, Reputation, and Manners. By way of Letter to Dr. Wallis — English autobiography
• 1666. De Principis & Ratiocinatione Geometrarum
• 1666. A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England (publ. 1681)
• 1668. Leviathan — Latin translation
• 1668. An answer to a book published by Dr. Bramhall, late bishop of Derry; called the Catching of the leviathan. Together with an historical narration concerning heresie, and the punishment thereof (publ. 1682)
• 1671. Three Papers Presented to the Royal Society Against Dr. Wallis. Together with Considerations on Dr. Wallis his Answer to them
• 1671. Rosetum Geometricum, sive Propositiones Aliquot Frustra antehac tentatae. Cum Censura brevi Doctrinae Wallisianae de Motu
• 1672. Lux Mathematica. Excussa Collisionibus Johannis Wallisii
• 1673. English translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
• 1674. Principia et Problemata Aliquot Geometrica Antè Desperata, Nunc breviter Explicata & Demonstrata
• 1678. Decameron Physiologicum: Or, Ten Dialogues of Natural Philosophy
• 1679. Thomae Hobbessii Malmesburiensis Vita. Authore seipso — Latin autobiography
  • Translated into English in 1680

Posthumous works

• 1680. An Historical Narration concerning Heresie, And the Punishment thereof
• 1681. Behemoth, or The Long Parliament
  • Written in 1668, it was unpublished at the request of the King
  • First pirated edition: 1679
• 1682. Seven Philosophical Problems (English translation of Problematica Physica, 1662)
• 1682. A Garden of Geometrical Roses (English translation of Rosetum Geometricum, 1671)
• 1682. Some Principles and Problems in Geometry (English translation of Principia et Problemata, 1674)
• 1688. Historia Ecclesiastica Carmine Elegiaco Concinnata

Complete editions

Molworth editions

Editions compiled by William Molesworth.

Thomae Hobbes Malmesburiensis Opera Philosophica quae Latina Scripsit, 5 vols. 1839–1845. London: Bohn. Reprint: Aalen, 1966 (= OL)

Volume	Featured works
Volume I	Elementorum Philosophiae I: De Corpore
Volume II	Elementorum Philosophiae II and III: De Homine and De Cive
Volume III	Latin version of Leviathan.
Volume IV	Various concerning mathematics, geometry and physics
Volume V	Various short works.

The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, 11 vols. 1839–1845. London: Bohn. Reprint: London, 1939-–; Aalen, 1966 (= EW)

Volume	Featured Works
Volume 1	De Corpore translated from Latin to English.
Volume 2	De Cive.
Volume 3	The Leviathan
Volume 4	TRIPOS ; in Three Discourses: Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policy De Corpore Politico, or the Elements of Law Of Liberty and Necessity An Answer to Bishop Bramhall's Book, called "The Catching of the Leviathan" An Historical Narration concerning Heresy, and the Punishment thereof Considerations upon the Reputation, Loyalty, Manners, and Religion of Thomas Hobbes Answer to Sir William Davenant's Preface before "Gondibert" Letter to the Right Honourable Edward Howard
Volume 5	The Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance, clearly stated and debated between Dr Bramhall Bishop of Derry and Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury.
Volume 6.	A Dialogue Between a Philosopher & a Student of the Common Laws of England A Dialogue of the Common Law Behemoth: the History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England, and of the Counsels and Artifices By Which They Were Carried On From the Year 1640 to the Year 1660 The Whole Art of Rhetoric (Hobbes's translation of his own Latin summary of Aristotle's Rhetoric published in 1637 with the title A Briefe of the Art of Rhetorique) The Art of Rhetoric Plainly Set Forth. With Pertinent Examples For the More Easy Understanding and Practice of the Same (this work is not of Hobbes but by Dudley Fenner, The Artes of Logike and Rethorike, 1584) The Art of Sophistry
Volume 7.	Seven Philosophical Problems Decameron Physiologicum Proportion of a straight line to half the arc of a quadrant Six lessons to the Savilian Professors of the Mathematics ΣΤΙΓΜΑΙ, or Marks of the absurd Geometry etc. of Dr Wallis Extract of a letter from Henry Stubbe Three letters presented to the Royal Society against Dr Wallis Considerations on the answer of Dr Wallis Letters and other pieces
Volume 8	The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, translated into English by Hobbes.
Volume 9
Volume 10	The Iliad and The Odyssey, translated by Hobbes into English
Volume 11	Index

Posthumous works not included in the Molesworth editions

Work	Published year	Editor	Notes
The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic (1st complete ed.)	London: 1889	Ferdinand Tönnies, with a preface and critical notes
"Short Tract on First Principles." Pp. 193–210 in Elements, Appendix I.			This work is now attributed to Robert Payne.
Tractatus opticus II (1st partial ed.) pp. 211–26 in Elements, Appendix II.			1639, British Library, Harley MS 6796, ff. 193–266
Tractatus opticus II (1st complete ed.) Pp. 147–228 in Rivista critica di storia della filosofia 18	1963	Franco Alessio	Omits the diagrams
Critique du 'De mundo' de Thomas White	Paris: 1973	Jean Jacquot and Harold Whitmore Jones	Includes three appendixes: De Motibus Solis, Aetheris & Telluris (pp. 439–47: a Latin poem on the movement of the Earth). Notes in English on an ancient redaction of some chapters of De Corpore (July 1643; pp. 448–60: MS 5297, National Library of Wales). Notes for the Logica and Philosophia prima of the De Corpore (pp. 461–513: Chatsworth MS A10 and the notes of Charles Cavendish on a draft of the De Corpore: British Library, Harley MS 6083).
Of the Life and History of Thucydides Pp. 10–27 in Hobbes's Thucydides	New Brunswick: 1975	Richard Schlatter
Three Discourses: A Critical Modern Edition of Newly Identified Work of the Young Hobbes (TD) Pp. 10–27 in Hobbes's Thucydides	Chicago: 1975	Noel B. Reynolds and Arlene Saxonhouse	Includes: A Discourse upon the Beginning of Tacitus pp. 31–67. A Discourse of Rome, pp. 71–102. A Discourse of Law, pp. 105–19.
Thomas Hobbes' A Minute or First Draught of the Optiques (critical ed.)	University of Wisconsin-Madison: 1983	Elaine C. Stroud	British Library, Harley MS 3360 Ph.D. dissertation
Of Passions Pp. 729–38 in Rivista di storia della filosofia 43	1988	Anna Minerbi Belgrado	Edition of the unpublished manuscript Harley 6093
The Correspondence of Thomas Hobbes (I: 1622–1659; II: 1660–1679) Clarendon Edition, vol. 6–7	Oxford: 1994	Noel Malcolm

Translations in modern English

• De Corpore, Part I. Computatio Sive Logica. Edited with an Introductory Essay by L C. Hungerland and G. R. Vick. Translation and Commentary by A. Martinich. New York: Abaris Books, 1981.
• Thomas White's De mundo Examined, translation by H. W. Jones, Bradford: Bradford University Press, 1976 (the appendixes of the Latin edition (1973) are not enclosed).

New critical editions of Hobbes' works

• Clarendon Edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes, Oxford: Clarendon Press (10 volumes published of 27 planned).
• Traduction des œuvres latines de Hobbes, under the direction of Yves Charles Zarka, Paris: Vrin (5 volumes published of 17 planned).

See also

• Natural and legal rights § Thomas Hobbes
• Natural law § Hobbes
• Hobbesian trap
• Conatus § In Hobbes
• Joseph Butler
• Hobbes's moral and political philosophy
• Leviathan and the Air-Pump

References

Citations

Sources

• "Hinduism" to "Home, Earls of" at Project Gutenberg

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Robertson, George Croom; Anonymous texts (1911). "Hobbes, Thomas". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 545–552.

Further reading

General resources

• MacDonald, Hugh & Hargreaves, Mary. Thomas Hobbes, a Bibliography, London: The Bibliographical Society, 1952.
• Hinnant, Charles H. (1980). Thomas Hobbes: A Reference Guide, Boston: G. K. Hall & Co.
• Garcia, Alfred (1986). Thomas Hobbes: bibliographie internationale de 1620 à 1986, Caen: Centre de Philosophie politique et juridique Université de Caen.

Critical studies

• Brandt, Frithiof (1928). Thomas Hobbes' Mechanical Conception of Nature, Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard.
• Jesseph, Douglas M. (1999). Squaring the Circle. The War Between Hobbes and Wallis, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Leijenhorst, Cees (2002). The Mechanisation of Aristotelianism. The Late Aristotelian Setting of Thomas Hobbes' Natural Philosophy, Leiden: Brill.
• Lemetti, Juhana (2011). Historical Dictionary of Hobbes's Philosophy, Lanham: Scarecrow Press.
• Macpherson, C. B. (1962). The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Malcolm, Noel (2002). Aspects of Hobbes, New York: Oxford University Press.
• MacKay-Pritchard, Noah (2019). "Origins of the State of Nature", London
• Malcolm, Noel (2007). Reason of State, Propaganda, and the Thirty Years' War: An Unknown Translation by Thomas Hobbes, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Manent, Pierre (1996). An Intellectual History of Liberalism, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Martinich, A. P. (2003) "Thomas Hobbes" in The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 281: British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 1500–1660, Second Series, Detroit: Gale, pp. 130–44.
• Martinich, A. P. (1995). A Hobbes Dictionary, Cambridge: Blackwell.
• Martinich, A. P. (1997). Thomas Hobbes, New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Martinich, A. P. (1992). The Two Gods of Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes on Religion and Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Martinich, A. P. (1999). Hobbes: A Biography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Narveson, Jan; Trenchard, David (2008). "Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1676)". In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE; Cato Institute. pp. 226–27. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n137. ISBN 978-1412965804. LCCN 2008009151. OCLC 750831024.
• Oakeshott, Michael (1975). Hobbes on Civil Association, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Parkin, Jon, (2007), Taming the Leviathan: The Reception of the Political and Religious Ideas of Thomas Hobbes in England 1640–1700, [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press]
• Pettit, Philip (2008). Made with Words. Hobbes on Language, Mind, and Politics, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Robinson, Dave and Groves, Judy (2003). Introducing Political Philosophy, Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X.
• Ross, George MacDonald (2009). Starting with Hobbes, London: Continuum.
• Shapin, Steven and Shaffer, Simon (1995). Leviathan and the Air-Pump. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Skinner, Quentin (1996). Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Skinner, Quentin (2002). Visions of Politics. Vol. III: Hobbes and Civil Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Stomp, Gabriella (ed.) (2008). Thomas Hobbes, Aldershot: Ashgate.
• Strauss, Leo (1936). The Political Philosophy of Hobbes; Its Basis and Its Genesis, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Strauss, Leo (1959). "On the Basis of Hobbes's Political Philosophy" in What Is Political Philosophy?, Glencoe, IL: Free Press, chap. 7.
• Tönnies, Ferdinand (1925). Hobbes. Leben und Lehre, Stuttgart: Frommann, 3rd ed.
• Tuck, Richard (1993). Philosophy and Government, 1572–1651, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Vélez, Fabio (2014). La palabra y la espada: a vueltas con Hobbes, Madrid: Maia.
• Vieira, Monica Brito (2009). The Elements of Representation in Hobbes, Leiden: Brill Publishers.
• Zagorin, Perez (2009). Hobbes and the Law of Nature, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.