Table Of ContentSTARTING WITH HOBBES
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STARTING WITH HOBBES
GEORGE MACDONALD ROSS
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© George MacDonald Ross 2009
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN:HB:1-8470-6160-5
978-1-8470-6160-7
PB: 1-8470-6161-3
978-1-8470-6161-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
MacDonald Ross, G. (George)
Starting with Hobbes/George MacDonald Ross.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-8470-6160-7 (hardback) – ISBN 978-1-8470-6161-4 (pbk.)
1. Hobbes, Thomas, 1588–1679. I. Title.
B1247.M33 2009
192–dc22
2009001160
Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
i. Abbreviations 5
CHAPTER 1: LIFE AND WORKS 6
i. Early Years 6
ii. The Cavendish Family 7
iii. Tutor to the Second Earl of Devonshire 7
iv. Tutor to Gervase Clifton 9
v. Tutor to the Third Earl of Devonshire 10
vi. Exile in Paris 11
vii. Return to England 14
viii.Last Years 15
CHAPTER 2: THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE 18
i. Medieval Theories of Perception 18
ii. Galileo’s Theory of Perception 19
iii. Descartes’ Theory of Perception 21
iv. Hobbes’s Theory of Perception 22
v. The Nature of Light 24
vi. Special Features of Hobbes’s Account 26
vii. Perception and Action 28
viii.Primary and Secondary Qualities 29
v
CONTENTS
ix. Scientific Knowledge 33
x. Language 37
xi. Reasoning 42
xii. An Alternative Theory of Meaning 43
CHAPTER 3: MATERIALISM 47
i. Introduction 47
ii. Substance 48
iii. Immaterial Substances 49
iv. The Human Soul 51
v. No Vacuum 56
vi. Universals 59
vii. Truths 66
viii.Infinity 68
ix. Geometry 72
x. Cause 75
xi. Conation 81
xii. Determinism 83
CHAPTER 4: THE HUMAN BEING 88
i. Introduction 88
ii. Appetite and Aversion 89
iii. Good and Evil 91
iv. Deliberation and Will 93
v. Freedom and Determinism 96
vi. The Equality of Humans 100
vii. The State of Nature 103
viii.Natural Laws 106
CHAPTER 5: SOCIETY 110
i. A Science of Society 110
ii. The Making of the Social Contract 114
iii. Was the Social Contract a Historical Event? 117
iv. Commonwealth by Institution and by Acquisition 120
vi
CONTENTS
v. Monarchy, Aristocracy and Democracy 122
vi. The Indivisibility of Sovereignty 125
vii. Life Under Absolute Rule 126
viii.Freedom of Thought 130
CHAPTER 6: RELIGION 134
i. Hobbes as a Fundamentalist Anglican 134
ii. The Corruption of Christianity by Greek Philosophy 138
iii. The Argument for Belief in the Existence of God 143
iv. God as Material 148
v. The Afterlife 154
CHAPTER 7: HOBBES’S INFLUENCE 161
i. Religion and Political Philosophy 161
ii. Metaphysics 165
iii. Conclusion 171
SOURCES 173
i. Hobbes Texts 173
ii. Other Primary Texts 174
iii. Hobbes’s Biography 174
iv. Hobbes’s Influence 174
CONTINUING WITH HOBBES 176
INDEX 179
vii
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INTRODUCTION
Hobbes had a vision of his complete philosophy as a logically
organized system. It would consist of three separate volumes: On
Body, On the Human Being and On the Citizen. As it happens, he
wrote On the Citizen first, and completed the other two volumes
much later. In the present book, I shall outline Hobbes’s philosophy
in more or less the order he intended. After the first chapter, on
Hobbes’s life and works, I shall begin with his theory of knowledge,
which underpins his whole philosophical system. I shall then con-
sider his materialism, which is, not surprisingly, the main theme
of On Body. Having established to his satisfaction that only
material objects exist, Hobbes then gives a materialist account of
human psychology. Finally, I cover Hobbes’s explanation of how
selfish but vulnerable humans come together to form a civil society.
Hobbes’s religion is a pervasive theme throughout his works, and I
devote a separate chapter to it. In the final chapter, I say something
about the influence of Hobbes’s thought.
Hobbes did not write in a vacuum, but was engaged in debate
with his contemporaries. He lived during one of the most excit-
ing periods in Western thought, which saw the transition from
an essentially mediaeval world view in philosophy and science
to a modern one. Hobbes was one of the leaders of the modern
revolution, and particularly in the early chapters of the book,
I establish the contrast between Hobbes’s theories and con-
cepts, and those of the ancient and mediaeval philosophers whose
world view he was overturning. In addition, I consider similarities
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