Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

A quotation from Leviathan to think about:

"In such a condition [the war of all against all] there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" (Leviathan, ch. 13).
   

The Hobbes reading is not simple.  Don't be surprised if you find sections of it hardgoing. Bring up your questions on the message board and in class.
Keep your eye firmly on the question: What is the problem here? And why is Hobbes's political philosophy the answer to that problem?

1. After finishing your reading and after some discussion, describe the "state of nature" in your own words.  Draw on the numerous relevant sections of Leviathan. What does it mean to say that the "state of nature" is hypothetical?

2. When you have finished your reading, look back at Hobbes's introduction to Leviathan: Why is it important that the state or the commonwealth is artificial? What is the purpose of the creation of the state? And from what you know from your reading overall, who creates the state?

3. In the introduction, Hobbes emphasizes the extent to which people are like each other. Why? What is the job of the sovereign in reading himself?

4.  According to Hobbes, the purpose of political inquiry is to avoid civil war.  Why does Hobbes think an absolute sovereign is necessary in order to avoid civil war. The Leviathan didn't entirely please either Royalists or Parliamentarians when it was published in 1651.  Why not?

5. What is the leviathan?  Click HERE for OED definition (and look for quotation from Hobbes).   What do you make of the illustration on the cover of your text? 

6. What is the "body politic"? What ideas about the "body politic" do you get from the image of the frontispiece (also on your book cover)?

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Part I.

Ch. I "Of Sense"

7. What is the cause of "sense" (sensation)?

8. In his third visit to the continent, 1634-1637, Hobbes met Galileo (Hobbes was about 47; Galileo was about 70). From Galileo, Hobbes adopted a basic hypothesis: everything is caused by motion.  How does Hobbes make use of this hypothesis?  How does he apply it to human nature?  Look, throughout your reading, for Hobbes's references to  motion.

Ch. II "Of Imagination"

9. What does Hobbes call imagination?

Ch. VI "Of the interiour Beginnings of Voluntary Motions, commonly called the Passions; And the Speeches by which they are expressed"

10. What are the passions (give examples)?

11. What are appetite and desire?

12. What accounts for people's judgments "good" and "evil" (bad)?

13. Pay close attention to the paragraph beginning "The forms of Speech by which the Passions are expressed . . . ." What do you get from this paragraph?

Ch. VIII "Of the Vertues commonly called Intellectual; and their contrary Defects, " ¶10

14. What dos Hobbes say about "secret thoughts"?

Ch. XI "Of the Differences of Manners"

15. What problem does Hobbes outline at the beginning of this chaper?

16. What does Hobbes say is a "general inclination of all mankind"?

17. What disposes men (people) to "obey a common Power"?

18. What does "thraldome" mean? What is complicated about "benefits"?

19. What does Hobbes say about religion and superstition at the end of this chapter?

Ch. XIII "Of the Naturall Condition of Mankind as concerning their Felicity and Misery"

20. Why is the fundamental equality of people important in Hobbes's thinking? What is the problem with fundamental equality. Why, in Hobbes's view of the political community, is equality intolerable? Compare equality as it is used in Leviathan (see especially ch. XIII)  with equality as used in the Declaration of Independence.

21. What is the problem when people live without a common power to overawe them all?

22. Please memorize the paragraph beginning "Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre" (p. 70).

23. What does Hobbes mean by saying that "nothing can be Unjust" (71) in the state of "warre of every man against every man"? What is the relation of justice to the distinction between "Mine" and "Thine"?

Ch. XIV "Of the first and second Naturall Lawes and of Contract," (¶1-10, 18, 19, 26, 28, 29, 30, & 31)

24. What is a law of nature?

24. What do men (people) have a right to in the "condition of Warre" (72)?

25. What are the first and second laws of Nature?

26. Why might people "lay down," (so to speak) their right to every thing?

27. What is a contract (¶9)? To whom do people surrender their rights and why do they do it?  Do women as well as men surrender their rights?  Do women enter the "social" contract?

28. What is a contract worth in "the condition of mere Nature" (18)?

Ch. XV "Of other Lawes of Nature," (¶1, 2, 5, 6, & 7)

29. What is the third law of nature?

30. How does someone "gain" Heaven?

Ch. XVI. "Of Persons, Authors, and things Personated"

31. This is a difficulty and important chapter. Read it and see what you think is important. After lecture, read it again. How has your thinking changed?

Part II.

Ch. XVII "Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a Commonwealth"

32. Why is it difficult for people to obey the laws of nature? What natural element of human beings resists obeying the laws of nature? What does this difficulty make necessary? What does it take to get people to obey the laws of nature?

33. Why does Hobbes say that "to rob and spoyle" people was at one time a trade? And do you think he's right? (Think back to this question when we read Daniel Defoe's Roxana.)

34. Can there be "Peace without subjection"? Why or why not? (Think back to this question when we read Mary Astell's "Reflections Upon Marriage."

Ch. XVIII "Of the Rights of Soveraignes by Institution"

35. Can the sovereign tolerate dissent or division? Is dissent logically conceivable in the state that Hobbes proposes? Why or why not?

36. Paraphrase the last paragraph of Ch. XVIII. What is the importance of civil war in Hobbes's thinking?

waving guy gif Nota Bene: Students are invited to write SQ for the last 3 chapters of Leviathan. Please post your questions in the appropriate forum of the message board.

Ch. XIX "Of severall Kinds of Common-wealth by Institution; and of Succession to the Soveraign Power," (¶ 3, 11, 13, 19, 20, & 21)

Ch. XX "Of Dominion Paternall, and Despticall," (¶ 1-8, 15)

Ch. XXI "Of the Liberty of Subjects," (¶ 1-5, & 21)