Thomas Hobbes was a philosopher in English and is today known for his political philosophical work. His most popular book which created political philosophy foundation for him in the West was Leviathan– published in the year 1651. Hobbes main perspective in the book was social contract theory.
Hobbes lived from1588 to 1679 and during his lifetime created a great impact on people with his political philosophy and views. This paper mainly compares the relationship between Thomas Hobbes as an individual, faith and the society apparent in his two major works from the early 17th century-Human Nature (1650) and Leviathan (1651).
The nature of the individual
Thomas Hobbes was born in a poor family with no riches, supremacy or influence. He was the son of village vicar who was disgraced by the world. Hobbes however was lucky enough to go to school by the help of his wealthy uncle who funded his education. Hobbes intellectual abilities were developed and recognized after going through systematic teaching in Latin and Greek classics.
His intellectual talents managed to see him through to Oxford University and later on through the use of common sense and mature personality, Hobbes got the chance to tutor Cavendishes a young man from a noble family in England. Hobbes managed to come close to power because of his practical and intellectual abilities showing clearly the nature of person he was as an individual.
We can say that he was a persistent man who never gave up easily and that is why he managed to reach far. Later on, his hard work enabled him to become a math tutor to King Charles II. This however did not make Hobbes a dominant person, it destined that he was definitely susceptible and aware of power.
Hobbes managed to overcome all the political and social havocs that affected his life and which were the major things that shaped the way he was thinking. These factors did not hinder his intellectual growth. This shows how ordinary Hobbes was, he did not allow the surrounding affect his growth despite the fact that it affected his thoughts.
Being a tutor shaped his writing and reading scope which finally enabled him to become the best publisher in Europe. While he was a tutor, he managed to get in contact with great and noble English intellectuals of his time like Francis Bacon. He also managed to learn a lot in France while he was in exile something he imposed after political and social havocs became great.
Hobbes rising reputation as a scholar and as a scientist gave him the chance to also meet chief scholarly figures in Europe during his time such as Gassendi, Mersenne and Descartes. Hobbes managed to find himself in a debate with these notable figures in Europe discussing mathematics, science and sometimes arguing on philosophy. His arguments with these people sometimes cost his intellectual reputation in Europe but that did not worry him.
Hobbes had liberal thoughts whereby he believed that everyone has equal rights; he believed in natural equality for all people. His liberal thoughts later on brought a distinction between the state and civil society (Dietz 1990). This means that Hobbes had a political order character with a justifiable political power view of representative based on the people’s consent. His liberal elucidation of the law was living in a free world whereby everyone had the right to do whatever they liked or wished as long as the law did not forbid it.
Hobbes understood humans as beings with motion and matter (Sorrell & Rogers 2000). He believed that humans obeyed similar physical laws as that of motion and matter. This is why he viewed humans in the same direction. However, he believed that humans could be influenced.
Hobbes description of the nature of human was based on self-interest and social contract. These were his major political philosophy topics that he addressed to the people. In his book Leviathan, he stated that humans were not capable of ruling themselves because they were full of themselves and they are naturally self-centered and petulant. Hobbes therefore believed that a leader should be someone strong at heart not self-centered and petulant.
The nature of Hobbes was also depicted in his writings which were undaunted by poor health and old age. This were however the major occurrences throughout his era. The only thing which brought Hobbes down was his health which failed him.
In his eighties, Hobbes was still strong and passionate about life as he continued to express his secretarial thoughts and his philosophical thoughts; many times, he was controversially defending his quarters. This shows how strong and determined Hobbes was, only death managed to silence him but still he died a hero.
The nature of society
Hobbes was born during the year when Spanish Armada had ill-fates of invading England. He lived during the period when there was heavy havoc and upheaval in England something the nation has never seen before since then. This mayhem faced by England had several facets and sources, fiscal and martial and lastly devout and political roots. During this period, England was at odds with itself in different ways.
There was a great division between the rich, poor and powerful people. Each group had different opinions and support for the king specifically regarding taxation that was implemented by the monarch. There was also a division in the parliament regarding its own supremacy and authority in relation to the King.
The people were at odds both religiously and financially. There was huge inequality in possessions and wealth. There was also Civil wars cataclysm in England which led to the development of splendidly drastic political and religious wings in the nation. A good example is the equality that existed between the levelers in terms of political rights and wealth. The diggers were more drastic and battled for wage labor eradication.
The civil wars in England led to a great division in the military for example Cromwell which is the republican challenger army was the residing place for the levelers (Dietz 1990). Nevertheless, Cromwell destroyed the control and power that they had within different ranks in the army.
King Charles I’s efforts to enforce uniformity in religious acts were almost annihilated by the brittle condition between England and Scotland merger. These are some of the reasons why Hobbes feared England and went on exile in France: he feared political and social chaos. He had the opportunity to observe the pandemonium and at the same time suffer from its effects before he flew to France and came back to England when the political and economic turmoil had reduced.
How Hobbes relates to the society
Hobbes related to the society in different ways both directly and indirectly. He was the father and the initiator of contemporary political philosophy. He encouraged political science and empiricism in England. He confronted religious power and preferred authoritarian state.
His political ideology was mainly based on secularism, science and empiricism whose influence is still experienced in America today specifically in the state and also in the church. Today, many people are still living in the world that Hobbes created, a world of humanity and human authority. There is justification in human authority today. However there are people who do not accept and believe on human authority a world created by Hobbes. However, Hobbes was against political and social disparity and a religious turmoil.
Hobbes fought for humanity; his thoughts were that all humans should be given equal rights, a moral claim which demanded human basic interest protection. He wanted this human authority to be enforced by the parliament and political powers in England.
Hobbes also related with the society through his literature works. He was a mathematician, a scientist, classic literature translator, law writer and lastly he was notorious of writing and raising religious questions especially disputes that existed in the church. Hobbes also wrote political and moral books such as Leviathan, the Elements of Law, Natural and Politic and Treatise on Human Nature among many others. He was one of those interesting intellectuals that existed in the world during the seventeenth century.
The Role of faith in the relationship between Hobbes and society
In the seventeenths century, a period when Hobbes lived, the people considered themselves equals and that is why they competed against each other for the scarce resources. The main notion for the people in England society was all against all and that is what they believed in (Sorrell & Rogers 2000).
However, Hobbes did not like the faith that the society had and that is why he was determined to change the people’s perspective and belief. His believed that if people have trust and view each other as equals it would promote peace and understanding. He therefore demanded and expected everyone to follow his faith on social relations since that was the only way that they could do away with civil war in England.
The state had the responsibility of promoting fairness among the people by first ensuring that judicial and executive powers together with lawmaking bodies join together to become a single body to form the monarch or parliament. This body will have the authority over religious beliefs and doctrines. The parliament can also breach rebels because the King work was to create peace whereby he has no right to commit evil or act unlawful.
How the structure of the selected literary works shapes themes of Hobbes, society and faith
Hobbes wrote many books and the major one popular ones being Leviathan and Treatise on Human Nature which he used mechanistic and scientific principles to address his political thoughts and views (Sorrell & Rogers 2000).
The major theme associated with Hobbes, the society and faith shape the literary works in different ways: it brings out the uniqueness of Hobbes work, his desire to change the world and his good motives towards the society he lived in. Hobbes choice to write in mechanistic principles enabled people to understand what he was addressing. His works were not plan work since he compared humans to the universe and explained them using mechanical processes something visible for all to see and understand.
References
Dietz, M. (1990). Thomas Hobbes and Political Theory. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.
Sorrell, T. & Rogers, G. (2000). Hobbes and History. London: Routledge.