In his philosophy Hobbes affixes a material body (the King) to God-simultaneously denying God in the Christian sense. Religious and secular authority becomes conflated. Hobbes was much more fearful of physical suffering inflicted on his body over spiritual suffering inflicted on his soul: the authority of the ruler quite literally eclipses the authority of God. Seeing as the Hobbesian philosophical positions are often political in nature, it becomes the responsibility of the ruler to protect the people-the covenant. Every facet of life is simply different masses of matter riding the flux of time and space which is sustained by an “Unmoved Mover.” This, coupled with his materialist philosophy, is closely related to Aristotelian thought.
Hobbes affixed the simple definition “ matter in motion” to his perception of the universe. Though logically sound, this thinking could easily lead one into trouble in the Catholic-dominated seventeenth century. As such, he gave no power whatsoever to idealistic philosophies invented in the mind-if it did not exist for one to perceive empirically, it simply does not exist at all. In his philosophy, Thomas Hobbes was a stalwart materialist. Hobbes, Philosophy and Religion The Crucifixion, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1318, via Manchester Art Gallery Looking at historical examples, Hobbes would argue that the political ideas of monstrosities such as Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin were ultimately for the best interests of their people, were he alive during their tenures. Any action a monarch can take is for his best interests and it is within Hobbes’ philosophy to submit without question. For Hobbes, the monarch’s very word is law, and all should submit to it in order to live long and live well.įor Thomas Hobbes, politics should orient itself against early death. While religious folk pray to God for protection, Hobbes turns to his secular king for protection from his greatest fear while religious folk look for answers from this God to live well, Hobbes interprets political manifestations from the king (the law) as a means to living well. In fact, he advocates that the secular king always has the best intentions for his people in mind, while no other authority can adequately perform in that way. In his notion of the covenant, Thomas Hobbes merges the role of the secular king with the role of the sacerdotal God, blurring the lines between monarch and divine.
God and Government God the Father on a Throne, with Virgin Mary and Jesus, artist unknown, c. The political equivalent of this covenant between humans and God became the relationship between citizen and ruler. The covenant is a promise humankind made with God where, in exchange for complete and total protection and sheltering, humankind would give up (some of) its natural rights: an eye for an eye. ” Above anything, Hobbes feared death his entire political axiom stemmed from doing everything in one’s power to prevent an untimely death before the “Maker” would have it by nature.īecause the State of Nature is so dangerous and frightening, among many other adjectives, Hobbes claimed that we had to make a covenant. Thomas Hobbes famously claimed that life in the State of Nature would be “ solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. In this state, Hobbes argues, people will stop at nothing to sustain their own survival: it was, quite literally, every man for himself. In the State of Nature, every human being exists as a hunter-gatherer as animals do. In support of his point, Thomas Hobbes cited his fictional State of Nature-a hypothetical time and place devoid of political establishment or social construct. Famously, Thomas Hobbes was a very paranoid, fearful, and careful man. Hobbes held a cynical opinion about human nature, claiming that human beings are naturally solipsistic and dangerous. 1600, via Victoria and Albert MuseumĪrguably, the most influential idea that came from Hobbes’ pen was that of the State of Nature. The State of Nature The Garden of Eden with the Temptation in the Background, by Jan Brueghel the Elder, c. His work would go on to inspire and influence-both in agreement and refutation-dozens of fellow political theorists, both contemporary and later on. Having spent his formative years surrounded by conflict (both continental during his time in France and domestic at home in England) Thomas Hobbes decided to write a philosophical treatise about governmental control.
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