Unit 4 - "The Mortal God"

    "Unit 4 - "The Mortal God"


Author Bio: Author- Thomas Hobbes (ca. 1588-1679)- English philosopher who was born in Westport, England; aside from political philosophy Hobbes contributed to the fields of history, jurisprudence, geometry,  the physics of gases, theology, ethics, and general philosophy.  Hobbes is often considered to be one of the founders of political philosophy, an overall well versed individual who helped to change the foundations of philosophy and individuality in Europe.


Date/ Context: Thomas Hobbes magnum opus, called Leviathan, published in the year 1651 and echoing the insecurity and fears of the English Revolution that escalated into the English Civil War between the royalists and parliamentary roundheads (1642-1446) and having recently seen the beheading of the sovereign monarch Charles I, even Hobbes himself had to leave England due to his aristocratic ties.


Summary: Thomas Hobbes express themes of power and the justification for absolute monarchs as a necessary evil in order to suppress man's violent nature and to encourage a peaceful existence.  Without the existence of absolute monarchs, man fights with his fellow man over the desire to obtain the same things, becoming enemies who will stop at nothing to destroy each other.  Foreign invaders having no one to fear, will easily deprive their fellow man of the hard earned fruits of their labors and take away their personal liberties.  It is part of man's nature to be violent, acting violently for three reasons: first for competition, secondarily due to insecurity, and thirdly due to glory.  Without an all powerful figure to keep man in check, man is inevitably bound to engage in war, leavening a trail of destruction and suffering in its wake.  In conclusion, man needs absolute monarchs to unify them as one country, with one identity, encouraging peace and prosperity, not war.      



Key Quotations:

"And therefore if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their end, which is principally their own conservation . . . endeavor to destroy, or subdue one another."

"And from hence it comes to pass, that . . . an invader has no more to fear than another man's single power; if one plant, sow, build and possess a convenient seat, others may probably be expected to come prepared with forces united, to dispossess, and deprive him, not only of the fruit of his labor, but also of his life, or liberty. "

"So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel. First, competition; secondly, insecurity; thirdly, glory."

"(Therefore it is clear) that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war."