Thomas Hobbes

1 Thomas Hobbes – Part One
1588 – 1679
The Leviathan
2 Important Names, Terms and Concepts
• Thomas Hobbes
• Empiricism
• Materialism
• Imagination
• Memory
• Time
• Infinite versus finite
3 Thomas Hobbes
• Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679 ) was born in London and he went to Oxford
University. Hobbes was interested in Political Philosophy and was trained in the
Classics.
• In 1651 Hobbes wrote the book that he is famous for called The Leviathan. Hobbes
argued that humans are essentially self interested and that a strong ruler was best to
keep order and needed to avoid chaos.
4 Thomas Hobbes’ s Empiricism
• Hobbes argues that all our knowledge originates through the senses
• Hobbes like Bacon and Descartes is also critical of the Empiricism taught in the Universities of his day and wants to set
out a better theory
• Hobbes’s theory is based on a form of Materialism that includes part of the new science put forth by Copernicus, Galileo
and Kepler.
• Hobbes points out Galileo who anticipated Newton’s first law of motion should be adopted
• Newton’s First law of Motion
• “An object in motion will tend to stay in motion and an object at rest will stay at rest unless the object is acted upon by an outside force”
continue in motion
• Hobbes says that most people accept the case of rest but do not yet accept the idea of an object’s being in motion eternally.
5 Imagination and Hobbes
• Hobbes in discussing imagination uses the example of an afterimage to suggest that our
imagination is nothing other than decaying sense.
• Memory, according to Hobbes is “when we would express the decay, and signify that the sense is
fading, old and past, it is called memory
• Hobbes concludes that Imagination and memory are but one thing. The present is identified with
Imagination as decaying sense and the past is indicated by memory of decaying sense.
6 Imagination And Memory
7 Experience and Memory
• Hobbes says that when we combine memories together in a coherent way we form
“experience.”
• Hobbes puts forth the idea that Locke will call a simple and compound idea
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• Hobbes says that a simple imagination is one like a horse or a man
• A compounded imagination would be if we conjoined together man and horse and came up with
the idea of a Centaur ( Part horse and part man )
8 Imagination and Dreams
• Hobbes says that “ The imaginations of them that sleep are those we call
dreams.”
• Hobbes believed that if the body was cold a fearful dream would occur
and if the body was overheated it would cause anger and an associated
enemy might be in the dream.
9 Dreams and Superstition
• Hobbes believes that superstition and beliefs in fictitious creatures may be a result
from people not being able to distinguish dreams from apparent visions and also
things like fairies, ghosts and goblins.
• He criticizes the schools for not eliminating these superstitions and in some instances
taking advantage of the ignorance of the masses.
10 Signs and Language
• Understanding, according to Hobbes, is not only his will but also involves
his concepts and thoughts.
• A train of thoughts is a succession of ideas as one thought leads to
another. Hobbes calls this Mental Discourse.
• Mental Discourse is of two sorts.
11 Mental Discourse
• There are two kinds of mental discourse
• Unguided thoughts are one’s that are ones that lack a design or end state
• These are common with persons that let their mind wander
• Regulated thoughts have a directing desire and a definite design.
• These kinds of thoughts often become strong and permanent
12 Mental Discourse
13 Regulated Thoughts
• Hobbes explains that when the mind is regulated by design it can be generalized as
seeking. The train of regulated thoughts also can be divided into two kinds
• Two Kinds of regulated thoughts
• When we reason from effect to the cause
• This is common to man and beast
• When we reason from cause to effect
• Hobbes says this type of thought is found only in man
14 Seeking and Causation
15 Hobbes On Time
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• Hobbes claims that “ The “present” only has a being in nature.”
• Hobbes explains that the past has a being in memory only.
• The future, according to Hobbes, is a fiction of the mind. Hobbes believes that we
use our ability to predict to guess about what will happen in the future.
16 Hobbes on the Infinite
• Hobbes believes that the human understanding can only comprehend the
finite.
• “Whatsoever we imagine is finite.”
• According to Hobbes, all discussion of the infinite is just an expression of
having no conception of the thing in question.
17 Hobbes on the Passions
• Animals have two sorts of motion. Hobbes calls these two motions vital and
voluntary motion.
• Vital motion include such things as flow of the blood and breathing. Processes that
occur without imagination
• Voluntary Motion include speaking, and moving by will. These motions involve a
starting point with imagination
18 Two Kinds of Motion
19 Hobbes discusses Language
• Hobbes goes into great detail into the meaning of words and often
discusses their Latin and Greek meanings.
• Language is a tool that allows mankind to express his or her emotions.
• Hobbes explains that a voluntary act proceeds from the will and that we
are driven by the things we desire.
20 Knowledge is of two kinds
• There are two kinds of knowledge
• Knowledge of fact
• This includes sense and memory and corresponds to facts we have experienced in the present or the past
• Science
• Science is conditional and is required by the philosopher. Hobbes gives an example
• “ If the figure shown to be a circle, then any straight line through the center shall divide it into two equal parts
21 Knowledge of Fact as History
• Hobbes identifies knowledge of fact with History. He then divides History
into two kinds.
• Natural history – History of facts of nature that are not dependent on man’s will
• Civil History – History of voluntary actions of men in commonwealths
22 Science involves books of demonstrations
• Hobbes gives an extensive table to divide the different categories of
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Philosophy.
• In Hobbes’s days Science was often referred to as Natural philosophy.
• See text page 79 for the table.
23 The divisions of knowledge
24 Religion
• Man is the only being that can have a religion because Man is curious and
searches for the causes of things.
• Man wanting to know the causes of good and evil are of ten anxious
because the causes of good and evil are often invisible.
25 Spiritual Substance
• The ideas of spiritual or incorporeal nature cannot come from the
imagination because it does not arrive through the senses.
• Hobbes believes that is why men say that God is incomprehensible.
• The worship of God is one of reverence
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