What Is Thomas Hobbes Political Controversy

Kush Patel
Modern World Civilizations Honors
Mr. Collins
Period 2
11/25/11
Political Controversy by a Malmesbury man “Thomas Hobbes was a man who boasted of his timidity as other men do of their courage. He was fearful of the dark, thieves, death and the wrath of the powerful men he offended; but this did not deflect him from his determination to seek the truth and inform the world of his findings.” The quote represents the personality of Thomas Hobbes because of the descriptions of what other might have thought of him. Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588. His birth was premature because of his mother’s reaction to the sighting of the Spanish Armada. Thomas’s father abandoned the family after Thomas’s
Thomas Hobbes believed that a tyranny is a better government than anarchy. He believed this because with anarchy, the country would be in order and there will be subjects that would not be able to rebel. He had felt that citizens had to give up all rights while under a government and be under a social contract. Thomas Hobbes also felt that people did not have the right to rebel. In England’s society during the Civil War, it would make the parliamentarians because they were rebelling against the monarchy. Also, Thomas Hobbes believed that people should not summit to a government if the government does not protect them, which made people loyal to the monarchy look bad. Also, Thomas Hobbes had many views on how religious organizations can be run. He believed that the sovereign could decide what the religious or any other organizations can be run by. In his book, Leviathan, Hobbes’s materialistic ideology was key in this text has it described how government can save mankind from civil war with loyalty. In the text, Hobbes believed that a state without government is “nasty and brutish” because it is an anarchy and had no order. The book had an influence on atheists because it spoke of many points of atheistism. It was banned by the non-secular government of England because it was believed to have corrupted the young people. Thomas Hobbes believed
After graduation from Oxford, he was hired by the Cavendish family to educate the son of William Cavendish, the 1st Earl of Devonshire. He became good friends with William Cavendish and traveled with him. After a sudden death of William Cavendish in 1628, he soon believed that people die young when with an “excessive indulgence in good living”. In November 1631, Hobbes came back and tutored the 3rd Earl of Devonshire. He had a Grand Tour of Europe with the boy in 1610. He met with the great scientists and intellectuals of the time in Paris at Place Royale. He learned from Descartes, Pascal, and Gassendi. He studies with Marin Mersenne the works of Galileo. Thomas Hobbes learned many things about science and philosophy before returning with the Earl back to England. One event that changed Hobbes’s life was when Hobbes read Euclid’s “Elements” in a library in Geneva. While reading the text, Thomas Hobbes came to believing that geometry was an ‘old science that hath pleased God to bestow on mankind’. This made him obsessed with geometry and convinced Hobbes that this subject was what would help him find the truth in the science of politics. The English Civil War had made another impact on Thomas Hobbes. After returning to England from his tour in 1637, Hobbes had seen many political pamphlets being given and had decided to work on a system of