Theological Origins of Modernity

hobbes’ fearful wisdom 235
only reactions, determined by our passions, which are aroused by the impacts
of external objects on our bodies. Th ese impacts trigger a mechanism
that releases a “spring” and catapults us into action. Th e direction we
move and the speed with which we move are determined by the character
of the initial impact and by the energy stored up in the “spring.” Th us
I may be moved to eat if I am off ered food when I am hungry, but less likely
to do so when I am full. I would also be less likely to eat, whatever my hunger,
if I were in the throes of grief or entranced by a Beethoven symphony.
I may believe that I choose one thing rather than another, but that choice
is determined by the nature and intensity of my passions at that moment.
I may seem subjectively to choose to do what I want, according to Hobbes,
but even if this is the case I can never choose to want what I want. Th at is
the result of a series of causes that are independent of me.
For the most part our dependence on such external causes is hidden
from us. We believe that we act freely, but if we read ourselves, as Hobbes
recommends at the beginning of Leviathan, we recognize that we and all
other human beings are moved by our passions. In one sense this recognition
is humbling because it diminishes our autonomy, but in Baconian
fashion Hobbes turns this humiliation into our salvation. In reading ourselves
in this way, we can discover what we need to be happy. In giving up
belief in our freedom, we recognize that happiness consists not in a striving
for moral perfection, immortal fame, or perfect piety but in satisfying
our bodily desires. In the course of this examination we also recognize
that while we want diff erent things at diff erent times, the one thing we
want everywhere and always is to be alive. We thus come to understand
that the most powerful “spring” within us moves us to seek our own preservation,
overriding all of other passions. Hunger, lust, thirst, and wonder
all disappear in the moment we are confronted with a threat to our lives.
Th is is the meaning of Hobbes’ claim that the wellspring of human action
is the fear of violent death. 95
While we can understand that violent death is the one thing we all
want to avoid, it is not possible to defi ne more fully or explicitly the other
goods necessary to our happiness. In a humanistic fashion, Hobbes asserts
that we are all radically individual beings with idiosyncratic passions.
Th us, while we all desire to exist, what any one of us wants to exist for or
wants out of existence can only be specifi ed by that individual. Th e happiness
of each individual thus depends upon his getting what he wants,
and this is related to his power. Power, however, arises out of our ability
to master and manipulate the world in motion around us, minimizing or
avoiding collisions with objects that could injure or destroy us and maxi-