WHAT FAMOUS FOR Thomas Hobbes is best known as one of the founding figures of modern political philosophy, above all for his 1651 masterpiece Leviathan, a work that reshaped Western thinking about government, authority, and human nature. His bleak view of humanity and forceful defense of absolute sovereignty made him one of the most controversial thinkers of the 17th century.
BIRTH Thomas Hobbes was born prematurely on April 5, 1588, which fell on Good Friday that year, at his father's house in Westport, now part of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. The house was a stone-built, tiled structure facing the Horse-Fair, the farthest house on the left traveling toward Tetbury. His premature birth occurred when his mother went into labor upon hearing news of the approaching Spanish Armada. Hobbes later famously remarked that his mother "gave birth to twins: myself and fear," suggesting this traumatic beginning instilled in him a lifelong preoccupation with security and peace.
FAMILY BACKGROUND Hobbes came from undistinguished, plebeian origins. His father, Thomas Hobbes Sr., was the poorly educated vicar of both Charlton and Westport parishes near Malmesbury. According to John Aubrey, Hobbes's biographer, the elder Thomas was "one of the ignorant 'Sir Johns' of
Queen Elizabeth's time; could only read the prayers of the church and the homilies; and disesteemed learning". After engaging in a brawl with local clergy outside his own church door, Thomas Sr. was disgraced and fled, abandoning his wife and three children.
Hobbes's mother came from the Middleton family of Brokenborough, described as a "yeomanly family," though her first name remains unknown.
Thomas had an older brother, Edmund (about two years his senior), who resembled him physically but fell short intellectually, being described as "a good plain understanding countryman". Edmund had one son, Francis, who resembled his uncle Thomas "especially about the eye" but "drowned his wit in ale," and two daughters who married locally. Hobbes also had a sister, Anne.
The family's salvation came through Thomas Sr.'s elder brother, Francis Hobbes, a wealthy and childless glove manufacturer who had served as alderman of Malmesbury. Francis took responsibility for the abandoned children and financed Thomas's education at Oxford. When Francis died, he bequeathed Thomas a mowing ground called the Gasten ground near the horse-fair, worth £16-18 per annum, while leaving the rest of his lands to Edmund.
CHILDHOOD Details of Hobbes's childhood are largely unknown, but contemporary accounts describe him as "playsome enough" yet possessing even then "a contemplative melancholiness"—he would retreat into corners to learn his lessons by heart immediately. This early tendency toward solitary reflection foreshadowed his later philosophical temperament.
EDUCATION At age four, Hobbes began attending school at Westport Church, continuing until age eight, by which time he could read well and perform calculations with four figures. He then progressed to Malmesbury school under Mr. Evans, the town minister. Subsequently, he attended a private school in Westport run by Robert Latimer, a young graduate from Oxford (aged nineteen or twenty) who was an excellent Greek scholar—the first to come to that region since the Reformation. Latimer, a bachelor who delighted in his pupils' company, instructed Hobbes and two or three other promising youths in the evenings until nine o'clock. So thoroughly did Hobbes profit from this instruction that by age fourteen he departed for Oxford as "a good school-scholar".
Remarkably, before entering university, Hobbes translated Euripides' Medea from Greek into Latin iambic verse and presented it to his master Latimer. This early demonstration of classical learning sadly did not survive—the manuscript was later lost, reportedly "devoured" by an oven used for baking pies.
At Oxford, Hobbes proved an indifferent student of scholastic philosophy, which he later dismissed, preferring to follow his own curriculum. He spent summer mornings rising early to trap jackdaws with birdlime-baited lead counters, disliked formal logic (though he learned it and fancied himself a good disputant), and spent considerable time "gaping on maps" at bookbinders' shops. He later wrote that he spent much time learning Aristotelian physics and logic, which he afterward "dispensed with," preferring to "prove things after [his] own sense".
Hobbes completed his Bachelor of Arts degree by incorporation at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1608. This educational foundation in classics, combined with his later self-directed study of geometry (which he discovered at age forty), mathematics, optics, and natural philosophy, established him as a polymath.
CAREER RECORD 1608 Appointed tutor to William Cavendish (son of William Cavendish, Baron of Hardwick, later Earl of Devonshire)
1610 -1615 Hobbes accompanied the younger William Cavendish on a grand tour of Europe
1620s Hobbes worked occasionally for Lord Chancellor
Francis Bacon, serving as amanuensis, translator, and conversation partner
1628 Hobbes published his first major work: the first English translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War
1629-1630 Tutor to Gervase Clifton (
1630-1637 Returned to the Cavendish family as tutor to William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire.
1640 Flees to Paris
1647-52 Appointed mathematical tutor to the exiled Prince Charles in Paris.
1660 At the Restoration,
Charles II remembered his former tutor fondly, receiving Hobbes back into favor, granting him a pension of £100 per year, giving him free access to court.
APPEARANCE In his youth, Hobbes was unhealthy with an ill, yellowish complexion. He frequently caught colds from getting his feet wet (before hackney coaches were common), and walked with both shoes worn aside the same way. However, from about age forty onward, he grew healthier and developed a fresh, ruddy complexion.
Hobbes stood over six feet tall—considerably above the average height of his era—and carried himself erect even in old age. His face was not very large, with an ample forehead. He had yellowish-reddish whiskers that naturally turned upward ("a sign of a brisk wit"), while he kept his face clean-shaven below except for a small tip under his lip. Though nature could have provided him with a venerable beard, "being naturally of a cheerful and pleasant humour, he affected not at all austerity and gravity and to look severe". As he remarked, "Barba non facit philosophium" (a beard does not make a philosopher).
His eyes were hazel-colored, full of life and spirit even to the last. When earnest in discourse, there shone "as it were, a bright live-coal" within them. He had two distinct looks: when laughing, witty, and merry, one could scarcely see his eyes; but when serious and contemplative, he opened them round. His skin was soft and of wide texture—what Francis Bacon called "goose-skin" in his History of Life and Death.
In old age, Hobbes became very bald, which "claimed a veneration," though indoors he studied bareheaded, remarking that he never caught cold in his head and that "the greatest trouble was to keep off the flies from pitching on the baldness". His sight and wit remained sharp until the end; he had such keen and steady vision and intellect that he claimed never to make errors in mathematical calculations.
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| Thomas Hobbes by John Michael Wright c 1669-1670 |
FASHION In cold weather, Hobbes commonly wore a black velvet coat lined with fur; if not that, then some other fur-lined coat. Year-round, he wore a kind of buskin made of Spanish leather, laced or tied along the sides with black ribbons. His dress reflected the practical rather than ostentatious preferences of a scholar who valued comfort and functionality over courtly display.
CHARACTER Hobbes was cautious, intellectually combative when pressed, and profoundly suspicious of disorder. Though posterity has often painted him as dour, in private he was sociable, witty, and fond of animated conversation. Those who knew him described a man of pleasant humour and natural cheerfulness, well loved for his “pleasant facetiousness and good nature,” and “marvellously happy and ready in his replies, and that without rancour (unless provoked).” His wit was sharp, his talk rich with memorable sayings, always delivered with clarity and dry precision. Charles II delighted in his repartees, while courtiers amused themselves by baiting “the bear” into philosophical combat.
Temperamentally, Hobbes was prudent and methodical. He resisted hasty judgments, once remarking that he would as soon be expected to give “an extemporary solution to an arithmetical problem” as an instant answer to a serious philosophical question. He turned matters over slowly, “winding and compounding” them with analytical care, thinking with what observers called excellent method and steadiness, qualities that made him seldom take a false step.
Although combative in argument, Hobbes was capable of genuine compassion. When accused by a clergyman of giving alms merely from Christian obligation, he replied that he had been distressed by “the miserable condition of the old man,” and that relieving him also relieved himself—revealing his belief that charity eased both giver and receiver. He was noted for his brotherly affection toward kin and for being generously charitable pro suo modulo to those he judged worthy. He willingly instructed anyone who modestly sought knowledge, a generosity personally attested to by John Aubrey.
Yet fear remained a constant undercurrent in his character. While he denied fearing spirits or the supernatural, he openly admitted to fearing violent death—“being knocked on the head for five or ten pounds” by desperate rogues. This ever-present anxiety about violence and sudden death was not merely personal; it lay at the very heart of his philosophy, shaping his enduring conviction that only strong authority could protect human beings from their most dangerous instincts.
SPEAKING VOICE Though Hobbes left his native Wiltshire at fourteen and lived abroad for extended periods, "sometimes one might find a little touch of our pronunciation" in his speech. Aubrey compared this to Sir Walter Raleigh, who "spoke broad Devonshire to his dying day" despite extensive travels and learning. Hobbes's voice retained subtle traces of his West Country origins throughout his ninety-one years.
Aubrey mentions that he was prone to "stuttering" when he became heated in an argument or passionate about a philosophical point.
SENSE OF HUMOUR Hobbes had a keen, often caustic wit. His philosophical writings themselves contain famous sardonic observations about human nature. In conversation, his discourse was "full of" memorable sayings that "were sharp and significant". At court, he fearlessly engaged in verbal sparring, making "his part good" against all comers. The king called him "the bear" and would say, "Here comes the bear to be baited".
Hobbes formulated an influential superiority theory of humor, arguing in Human Nature (1650) and Leviathan that laughter arises from "sudden glory" at perceiving our own superiority over others' defects or our past selves. This somewhat dark view of comedy as fundamentally about triumph over others reflected his broader philosophy of human competition and self-interest. (1)
RELATIONSHIPS Hobbes never married and no romantic relationships or children are recorded. His most significant relationships were professional and intellectual rather than familial or romantic.
His lifelong connection with the Cavendish family provided not only employment but genuine friendship and patronage. William Cavendish, the 2nd Earl of Devonshire, whom Hobbes first tutored, became a close friend and confidant for twenty years until his death in 1628. The family's support continued through multiple generations, with Hobbes serving various Cavendishes as tutor, secretary, and adviser, finally spending his last years at their Chatsworth and Hardwick estates.
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| William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire |
Among intellectuals, Hobbes cultivated important friendships. Francis Bacon "loved to converse with him" and valued him as a secretary and conversation partner because Hobbes "understood what he wrote".
Hobbes "extremely venerated and magnified"
Galileo Galilei, forming a friendship when visiting him in Florence in 1636; "they pretty well resembled one another, as to their countenances" and "were both cheerful and melancholic-sanguine; and had both a consimility of fate, to be hated and persecuted by the ecclesiastics".
In Paris, Hobbes became close friends with philosopher and astronomer Pierre Gassendi and engaged
René Descartes in debates (though these "succeeded only in ending all correspondence between the two"). He participated regularly in the intellectual circle of Marin Mersenne. John Selden became a close friend after Hobbes sent him a bound copy of
Leviathan; they maintained "strict friendship" until Selden's death, when Selden left Hobbes a legacy of £10.
Other friends and admirers included poet
Ben Jonson, portrait painter Samuel Cowper (who painted Hobbes's portrait "as like as art could afford"—one of Cowper's best works, which Charles II purchased), Sir William Petty (with whom Hobbes studied anatomy in Paris), scientist Sir Jonas Moore, and Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland. John Aubrey, Hobbes's first biographer, met him in 1634 and knew him longer than any other countryman—from 1634 until Hobbes's death.
Hobbes also made formidable enemies. Bishop John Bramhall engaged him in bitter disputes over free will and determinism, accusing his teachings of leading to atheism and publishing The Catching of Leviathan the Great Whale (1658). Mathematician John Wallis became one of his most persistent opponents, attacking Hobbes's mathematical work for nearly a quarter-century after the publication of De Corpore (1655). Oxford Professor Seth Ward also criticized his work. In 1666, Anglican bishops proposed trying Hobbes for heresy, and "'Hobbism' became a byword for all that respectable society ought to denounce".
MONEY AND FAME Though of plebeian origins, Hobbes achieved considerable financial security through his Cavendish patronage. His uncle Francis left him the Gasten ground, worth £16-18 per annum. The Cavendish family provided him with "leisure and a library" plus compensation for his various services. When briefly dismissed after the death of the 2nd Earl in 1628, he received a pension.
According to his autobiography (Vita), Hobbes took 500 pounds in coin to Paris during his exile, and later received "twice forty pounds Pension" with an additional 100 pounds from Charles II's private purse. At the Restoration in 1660, Charles II granted him a pension of £100 per year, though like most of the Royal benefactions of the day, it was but irregularly paid. There are letters at Chatsworth complaining that Hobbes had not received his pension from Charles II, and he was sometimes not paid promptly by the Cavendishes either. Nevertheless, Hobbes "must have been a reasonably wealthy man" by contemporary standards. (2)
As for fame, Hobbes achieved international renown as a philosopher. Leviathan had "immediate impact"—soon "Hobbes was more lauded and decried than any other thinker of his time". His reputation abroad was "formidable", and he was "more esteemed by foreigners than by his countrymen," as "a prophet is not esteemed in his own country". He enjoyed "a new prominence" after the Restoration, with Charles II receiving him into favor and hanging his portrait in the royal closet. The Royal Society held him in high esteem, displaying his portrait drawn from life in 1663 at Gresham College (though he was never elected Fellow, likely due to one or two enemies).
FOOD AND DRINK In youth, Hobbes was "generally temperate, both as to wine and women," believing he had been "in excess in his life, a hundred times; which, considering his great age, did not amount to above once a year". When he did drink, "he would drink to excess to have the benefit of vomiting, which he did easily; by which benefit neither his wit was disturbed (longer than he was spewing) nor his stomach oppressed". However, he "never was, nor could not endure to be, habitually a good fellow, i.e. to drink every day wine with company, which, though not to drunkenness, spoils the brain".
For his last thirty years or more, his diet was "very moderate and regular". After age sixty, he drank no wine because his stomach grew weak. He ate mostly fish rather than flesh, especially whitings, saying "he digested fish better than flesh". His daily routine was precise: he rose about seven, had breakfast of bread and butter, walked meditating until ten, then took dinner at exactly eleven o'clock because "he could not now stay till his lord's hour—that is, about two: that his stomach could not bear". After dinner, he took a pipe of tobacco, then immediately threw himself on his bed with his collar off and slept for about half an hour.
MUSIC AND ARTS Hobbes had considerable interest in and engagement with music. Around the time he worked with Francis Bacon, "Mr T.H. was much addicted to music, and practised on the bass viol". Throughout his life, he kept books of "prick-song" (written music) lying on his table—including songs by Henry Lawes and others. At night, when in bed "and the doors made fast, and was sure nobody heard him, he sang aloud (not that he had a very good voice, but for his health's sake); he did believe it did his lungs good and conduced much to prolong his life". He advocated that "the worship of God performed with music", reflecting his view that music served both devotional and health-promoting purposes.
Regarding visual arts, Hobbes had his portrait painted by Samuel Cowper, "the prince of limners of this last age," who "drew his picture as like as art could afford, and one of the best pieces that ever he did". Charles II purchased this portrait upon his return and kept it as "one of his great rarities in his closet at Whitehall". The Royal Society also commissioned a portrait drawn from life in 1663, which they esteemed highly and from which several copies were made.
In his writings, Hobbes engaged with aesthetics and the relationship between art and philosophy, though primarily from a mechanistic perspective. His essay "Answer to Sir William Davenant's Preface before Gondibert" (1650) represents one of his few direct literary-critical works.
LEVIATHAN Leviathan was Hobbes’s greatest hit, though “hit” may be stretching the term for a book that managed to alarm clergymen, horrify politicians, and unsettle just about everyone else with a stake in human decency. He wrote it while in exile in Paris and published it in April 1651, at a time when England was demonstrating—enthusiastically and in public—what happens when nobody agrees who’s in charge. Civil war, regicide, and general mayhem tend to focus the philosophical mind.
Hobbes looked at this anarchic spectacle and reached a conclusion that was bracingly unromantic: people, left to their own devices, are not noble savages or misunderstood angels but self-interested creatures who will cheerfully make life unbearable for one another. Without a strong state, he declared, human existence would be “nasty, brutish and short”—a phrase that has enjoyed far greater longevity than most governments.
The solution, Hobbes argued, was absolute authority. Everyone gives 100 per cent obedience, no quibbling, no exceptions, because any gap in power is an engraved invitation to chaos. This was pessimism raised to the level of system, and it shocked many readers by openly accusing mankind of being motivated primarily by self-interest—a view that, while now widely accepted, was considered deeply rude in the 17th century.
The title didn’t help. Hobbes borrowed Leviathan from the Bible, specifically Psalm 74:14, where it refers to a terrifying sea monster. Naming your book after a biblical beast of the deep is not a subtle way to reassure readers, and Parliament eventually confirmed this by censoring the work in 1666.
Hobbes later returned to aquatic symbolism with Behemoth, another philosophical treatise, this time named after a monster from Job 40:15. By then, sea creatures had become something of a theme—useful, really, when your philosophy insists that order is all that stands between civilisation and something with teeth.
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| Frontispiece of Leviathan by Abraham Bosse, with input from Hobbes |
LITERATURE Hobbes's relationship with literature was extensive and evolved significantly throughout his life. In his role as tutor to William Cavendish, he read widely in romances and plays before encountering Thucydides—"he spent two years in reading romances and plays, which he has often repented and said that these two years were lost of him". However, Aubrey suggests Hobbes may have been mistaken in this regret, "for it might furnish him with copy of words".
Hobbes's first major literary achievement was his 1628/29 translation of Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War from Greek into English, which has long been considered a masterful rendering and "a work of art in its own right". This translation reflected Hobbes's conviction that Thucydides offered crucial lessons about the dangers of democracy and civil conflict relevant to contemporary England. Hobbes professed "deep admiration for Thucydides, praising him as 'the most politic historiographer that ever writ'". (3)
In addition to Leviathan, his major works include De Cive, The Elements of Law, and historical writings such as Behemoth, a study of the English Civil War.
Classical literature remained central to Hobbes's reading throughout his life. Aubrey reports that "
Homer and Virgil were commonly on his table; sometimes Xenophon, or some probable history, and Greek Testament, or so". His library was surprisingly sparse.—"I never saw (nor Sir William Petty) above half a dozen about him in his chamber". This minimalism reflected his philosophical conviction: "He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men, he should have known no more than other men".
In his final years, at ages 85-87, Hobbes produced English verse translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (1673-1675). These translations, while displaying competence, have been judged less successful than his Thucydides. Critics note that Hobbes's poetic choices—such as rendering the Greek "mēnis" (wrath, rage) as "discontent" in the opening of the Iliad—often lack the power and accuracy of other translators. Nevertheless, the sheer ambition of undertaking such massive translation projects in extreme old age testifies to Hobbes's undiminished intellectual energy.
Hobbes also engaged deeply with contemporary English literature through his friendship with Ben Jonson, the poet laureate, suggesting he remained connected to living literary culture.
NATURE His natural philosophy treated nature mechanistically, as matter in motion governed by physical laws rather than as an organic or spiritual entity. Hobbes opposed the experimental natural philosophy practiced by the Royal Society, preferring deductive reasoning from first principles. This methodological stance meant he engaged with nature primarily through reason rather than empirical observation
PETS While he wrote about animals in philosophical contexts—particularly discussing animal cognition and whether animals could be considered to have rights or reason—no biographical sources mention him owning or keeping companion animals.
HOBBIES AND SPORTS Hobbes maintained several recreational pursuits, most notably tennis, which he played regularly until the remarkable age of seventy-five. His tennis playing was not merely casual: "he did twice or thrice a year play at tennis (at about 75 he did it); then went to bed there and was well rubbed". The post-game rubdown was characteristic of Hobbes's attention to health maintenance through physical exertion followed by recovery measures.
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| Hobbes playing tennis (Image by Perplexity) |
When tennis facilities were unavailable, particularly in the country, Hobbes devised alternatives: "for want of a tennis court, he would walk up hill and down hill in the park, till he was in a great sweat, and then give the servant some money to rub him". He believed such vigorous exercise followed by massage "would make him live two or three years the longer".
Hobbes' extensive walking served as his primary method of philosophical meditation. He would "rise very early in the morning" and walk while thinking, carrying "a note-book in his pocket, and as soon as a thought darted, he presently entered it into his book, or otherwise he might perhaps have lost it". For Leviathan specifically, "he walked much and contemplated, and he had in the head of his cane a pen and ink-horn" so he could record ideas immediately.
His walks often took place in gardens or parks connected with the great houses where he resided. Aubrey describes his "place of meditation" at one residence as "in the portico in the garden". At Chatsworth and Hardwick, the Cavendish estates where he spent his final years, Hobbes would have had access to extensive grounds.
Intellectual hobbies dominated Hobbes's leisure. Beyond his philosophical work, he engaged extensively with geometry, which he discovered relatively late but pursued with passion. He would "draw lines on his thigh and on the sheets, abed, and also multiply and divide," demonstrating that mathematical contemplation occupied his mind even during rest.
Music constituted another recreational pursuit. He practiced the bass viol in his younger years and maintained a lifelong habit of singing alone at night for health reasons, believing "it did his Lunges good". He kept songbooks by Henry Lawes and others on his table throughout his life.
In his youth at Oxford, Hobbes engaged in the curious hobby of catching jackdaws. He would rise very early in summer mornings and tie lead counters (used in Christmas games) with packthread besmeared with birdlime and baited with cheese parings. Jackdaws would spy these "a vast distance up in the air, and as far off as Osney Abbey, and strike at the bait, and so be harled in the string, which the weight of the counter would make cling about their wings".
Hobbes also enjoyed going "to the bookbinders' shops and lie gaping on maps" during his time at Oxford—an early indication of his interest in geography and visual representation of space.
SCIENCE AND MATHS Hobbes is considered "not only a scientist in his own right but a great systematizer of the scientific findings of his contemporaries, including Galileo and
Johannes Kepler". (4)
Hobbes's major scientific works included Tractatus Opticus (1640s) on optics, De Corpore (1655) on physics and natural philosophy, and various treatises on motion, time, and space. In Paris, he "went through a course of chemistry with Dr Davison" and "studied Vesalius' Anatomy," dissecting with Sir William Petty before 1648. He contributed to debates at the Royal Society and had opinions on experimental methodology, though he "disdained experimental work as in physics," preferring theoretical reasoning.
His discovery of Euclidean geometry at age forty proved transformative. Encountering
Euclid's 47th proposition in a gentleman's library, Hobbes exclaimed "By G—, this is impossible!" before working backward through the demonstrations until convinced. This "made him in love with geometry", which became the model for his philosophical method. However, friends including Sir Jonas Moore lamented "that it was a great pity he had not begun the study of the mathematics sooner, for such a working head would have made great advancement in it". Indeed, his late start left him vulnerable to mathematical opponents.
Hobbes's mathematical work proved highly problematic. In De Corpore, he claimed to provide proof for "squaring the circle"—a mathematical impossibility. Oxford mathematician John Wallis published devastating critiques, sparking a feud lasting "nearly a quarter of a century" that became "one of the most infamous feuds in mathematical history". Hobbes never admitted his error. He also "opposed the existing academic arrangements, and assailed the system of the original universities in Leviathan", making him unpopular with academic mathematicians. (5)
Hobbes complained that "algebra (though of great use) was too much admired, and so followed after, that it made men not contemplate and consider so much the nature and power of lines, which was a great hindrance to the growth of geometry". He maintained a geometric approach, reportedly drawing "lines on his thigh and on the sheets, abed, and also multiply and divide". Even late in life, he wrote dialogues on geometry and continued publishing mathematical works, though these were largely rejected by professional mathematicians. (2)
PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Thomas Hobbes stands before us like a man who has read the instruction manual for humanity and decided it was badly written, overly optimistic, and in need of firm editorial control. He is one of the great figures of Western political philosophy, largely because he looked at human nature, sighed heavily, and concluded that without strong authority we would all be fighting over the last biscuit within minutes.
Hobbes believed that people are not, at heart, fluffy-minded seekers of the common good, but anxious, self-interested creatures motivated by fear—particularly the fear that someone else is about to hit them with a stick. This did not make him popular. He was accused of atheism, which in the seventeenth century was rather like being accused of eating babies. Hobbes, for his part, protested that he was religious, thank you very much—just deeply suspicious of what happens when people start interpreting God without adult supervision.
At the core of Hobbes’s thinking was a severe, no-nonsense materialism. According to him, everything that exists is made of matter in motion. There are no floating spiritual add-ons, no ghostly extras hovering about for atmosphere. Thoughts, emotions, and even God Himself were, in Hobbes’s scheme, to be understood in physical terms. It was a worldview that left very little room for mystery and even less for comfort, but it had the advantage of being tidy. If the universe was a machine, then human beings were complicated cogs who squeaked a lot and needed regulation.
This mechanical view of humanity fed directly into Hobbes’s political thinking, most famously laid out in Leviathan (1651), written while he was in exile and presumably had plenty of time to brood. He imagined a “state of nature,” which is what life would be like without government. In this scenario, everyone has a right to everything, including each other’s possessions, limbs, and lives. The result, unsurprisingly, is a permanent state of war, accompanied by “continual fear” and a life that is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”—rather like a particularly unsuccessful church coffee morning.
To escape this nightmare, Hobbes argued, people would sensibly agree to hand over their freedoms to a sovereign authority in exchange for protection. This social contract meant that the ruler’s power could not be resisted, because it came directly from the people themselves. You gave up your right to punch your neighbour so that the sovereign could stop your neighbour punching you, which Hobbes thought a very reasonable trade. Government, in his view, existed not to make people virtuous, but to stop them killing each other.
What made Hobbes especially radical was that he did not ground political authority in divine right. Kings ruled, he said, not because God had given them a crown, but because people had decided that obedience was less unpleasant than chaos. As one later historian neatly put it, Hobbes believed we obey the state not because it is morally inspiring, but because disobedience is usually worse.
Hobbes intended his ideas to form part of a grand philosophical system, laid out with geometric precision. He planned three major works: De Corpore on physics, De Homine on human nature, and De Cive on political life. Events forced him to publish them out of order, but the ambition was clear: explain everything, from moving objects to moving crowds, using reason alone. It was philosophy as flat-pack furniture—complex, systematic, and requiring absolute concentration to avoid collapse.
His religious views were, predictably, controversial. Hobbes denied that spirits were incorporeal, insisted that revelation must agree with reason, and suggested that religion’s primary social function was to prevent war. This did not endear him to church authorities. Still, he maintained he was a Christian, accepted the sacraments, and reportedly said near the end of his life that he preferred the Church of England, which suggests that even Hobbes liked something familiar and moderately orderly.
Hobbes’s influence has been enormous. Later thinkers such as Locke, Rousseau, and Kant borrowed the social contract idea, even when they softened its more intimidating edges. His insistence that politics is rooted in human psychology and self-interest helped shape modern political science. In short, Hobbes gave us a bleak but bracing vision of society: a reminder that civilisation is not a natural state, but a carefully negotiated ceasefire—and one that, without authority, could unravel before you’ve finished your tea.
POLITICS Thomas Hobbes had the misfortune—or perhaps the philosophical good luck—to live through one of England’s loudest, bloodiest, and most confusing arguments: the Civil Wars of the 1640s. It was the sort of period when kings lost their heads, Parliament found its voice, and everyone else discovered that taking sides was much easier than staying alive. Hobbes watched all this with mounting alarm and drew the reasonable conclusion that human beings, left to their own devices, were not coping terribly well.
Politically, Hobbes occupied a position best described as awkwardly parked. He was connected to the Royalists through his long association with the Cavendish family, most notably William Cavendish, who enthusiastically backed the king and even financed an army—an expensive way of demonstrating loyalty. Hobbes himself tutored the future Charles II in mathematics while the young prince was in exile in Paris, which sounds grand until you remember that exile is essentially being royal without the perks.
Yet Hobbes had a knack for irritating the very people he seemed closest to. When Leviathan appeared in 1651, Royalists were less than delighted to discover that Hobbes believed kings ruled not by divine right but by human agreement. Sovereignty, in his view, was a practical arrangement, not a heavenly appointment. This was rather like telling a divinely anointed monarch that he was essentially a very powerful committee chairman.
Parliament, meanwhile, wasn’t exactly queuing up to embrace Hobbes either. Earlier, in 1640, he had circulated The Elements of Law, which argued that Parliament was wrong to refuse King Charles I money, since subjects were obliged to obey the sovereign’s decisions. Parliament did not take this as a friendly suggestion. Sensing that his philosophical career might be cut unpleasantly short, Hobbes fled to Paris, becoming what might be called a refugee from bad political timing.
By 1651, however, England had changed governments again—this time quite decisively—and Hobbes returned home. He presented himself to the Council of State overseeing
Cromwell’s Commonwealth and, in a neat piece of intellectual flexibility, explained in the concluding section of Leviathan that when a sovereign can no longer protect you, you are perfectly entitled to switch allegiance. This was political theory doing the splits, but Hobbes insisted it was simply logic.
The truth is that Hobbes was less interested in who ruled than in the fact that someone did. Monarchy, aristocracy, democracy—it hardly mattered, so long as there was a single, unquestioned authority capable of preventing society from collapsing into a free-for-all involving knives. As he admitted, he found himself stuck between people demanding too much liberty and people demanding too much authority, and discovered that trying to pass between them without injury was nearly impossible.
When the monarchy was restored in 1660, Hobbes once again managed to land on his feet. Charles II, who remembered him fondly from Paris and apparently enjoyed his conversation, granted him a pension and welcomed him at court. This goodwill had limits. The king forbade the republication of Leviathan and blocked the publication of Behemoth, Hobbes’s history of the Civil Wars—perhaps sensing that reopening old arguments was not a relaxing way to run a restored kingdom.
After 1666, when Parliament briefly threatened to investigate Leviathan for atheism, Hobbes became notably cautious, which at his age was probably sensible. He had seen enough of what happens when authority breaks down. The Civil Wars convinced him that the greatest political disaster was not tyranny but chaos. Without strong government, he believed, life would quickly revert to its natural setting: fearful, violent, and uncomfortably short. Leviathan, in the end, was less a manifesto for kings than a survival guide for a species Hobbes clearly thought needed one.
SCANDAL Hobbes's life and work generated repeated scandals,
Atheism Accusations: The most persistent and dangerous scandal involved accusations of atheism—"an important accusation" in seventeenth-century England where atheism could mean death. Bishop John Bramhall accused Hobbes of teachings leading to atheism and wrote The Catching of Leviathan the Great Whale (1658) denouncing him. Hobbes himself wrote that "atheism, impiety, and the like are words of the greatest defamation possible". After the Restoration, "'Hobbism' became, in the popular lexicon, synonymous with" atheism, denying objective moral values, and promoting debauchery. "Throughout the 1660s and 1670s, Hobbes continually fended off attacks by those who accused him of atheism". (3)
Heresy Charges: In the early 1660s, Anglican bishops rumored plans to try Hobbes for heresy. In 1666, "the House of Commons introduced a bill against atheism and profaneness," and "it was ordered that the committee to which the bill was referred 'should be empowered to receive information touching such books as tend to atheism, blasphemy and profaneness... in particular... the book of Mr. Hobbes called the Leviathan'". "Hobbes was terrified at the prospect of being labelled a heretic, and proceeded to burn some of his compromising papers". He examined the actual state of heresy law, publishing his findings in appendices to the 1668 Latin translation of Leviathan, arguing no court of heresy remained with jurisdiction over him and that nothing could be heresy except opposing the Nicene Creed, "which, he maintained, Leviathan did not do". (3)
Mathematical Controversy: Hobbes's claim to have squared the circle in De Corpore (1655) sparked one of mathematics' most infamous feuds. John Wallis demolished his proofs, sparking "name-calling and bickering for nearly a quarter of a century, with Hobbes failing to admit his error to the end of his life". This controversy damaged his reputation among scientists and mathematicians. (5)
Exile and Royal Disfavor: Leviathan "angered many of the courtiers who had gone into exile with Charles," especially Anglican bishops, and "Hobbes was quickly barred from the court-in-exile" in Paris. The book also "angered French Catholics, who attempted to arrest him in 1651," forcing his return to England. Though Charles II later granted him favor and pension, the king prohibited republication of Leviathan and publication of Behemoth. (3)
False Rumors: Hobbes faced various unfounded accusations. "His work was attended with envy, which threw several aspersions and false reports on him. For instance, one (common) was that he was afraid to lie alone at night in his chamber". (Hobbes clarified he feared robbers, not spirits.) Some claimed he received a pension from the King of France "for having asserted such a monarchy as the King of France exercises," though Hobbes never mentioned this and his friends denied it.
Despite these scandals, Hobbes reached the exceptional age of 91", navigating treacherous political and religious terrain with a combination of caution, royal protection, and intellectual force.
MILITARY RECORD Thomas Hobbes' adult life spanned one of England's most tumultuous military conflicts—the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). Rather than fighting, Hobbes fled England in 1640 as conflict loomed, spending eleven years in self-imposed exile in France to avoid the dangers of civil war.
Hobbes's response to the Civil War was intellectual rather than martial—he wrote De Cive and Leviathan analyzing the causes and solutions to civil conflict, and later composed Behemoth (published posthumously in 1681) as "A Dialogue of the Civil Wars of England".
His aversion to military service and violence was entirely consistent with his personality and philosophy. From childhood, Hobbes exhibited a "contemplative" rather than martial temperament. The trauma of witnessing his father's violent brawl and subsequent disgrace likely reinforced his hatred of physical conflict. As a philosopher, he was "by nature a deeply peaceful and cautious man" who "hated violence of all kinds".
This personal aversion to violence animated his entire political philosophy. The central problem Leviathan addresses—how to prevent the horror of civil war—arose directly from Hobbes's own experience of fleeing England and watching from Paris as his homeland tore itself apart. His famous description of the state of nature as a condition where life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" reflected his understanding of what happens when civil order collapses into armed conflict
Hobbes's response to the Civil War was intellectual rather than martial—he wrote De Cive and Leviathan analyzing the causes and solutions to civil conflict, and later composed Behemoth (published posthumously in 1681) as "A Dialogue of the Civil Wars of England".
HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Hobbes enjoyed remarkably robust health in his later life, despite a sickly youth, living to the exceptional age of ninety-one—more than double the contemporary life expectancy of forty-three years. He attributed his longevity to careful attention to diet, exercise, and lifestyle.
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| Thomas Hobbes. Line engraving by William Faithorne, 1668 https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images |
Hobbes "seldom used any physic". "He was wont to say that he had rather have the advice or take physic from an experienced old woman, that had been at many sick people's bedsides, than from the learned but unexperienced physician". This pragmatic approach reflected his general preference for practical experience over abstract authority.
Hobbes developed what was likely Parkinson's disease. "He had the shaking palsy in his hands; which began in France before the year 1650, and has grown upon him by degrees, ever since, so that he has not been able to write very legibly since 1665 or 1666". Despite this progressive condition, he continued intellectual work by dictating to his amanuensis, James Wheldon.
In October 1679 Hobbes suffered a paralytic stroke About seven or eight days after traveling from Chatsworth to Hardwick Hall, "his whole right side was taken with the dead palsy, and at the same time he was made speechless". "He lived after this seven days, taking very little nourishment, slept well, and by intervals endeavoured to speak, but could not. In the whole time of his sickness he was free from fever". He "seemed therefore to die rather for want of the fuel of life (which was spent in him) and mere weakness and decay, than by power of his disease, which was thought to be only an effect of his age and weakness".
HOMES Hobbes was born in his father's house in Westport (part of Malmesbury, Wiltshire)—"that extreme house that points into, or faces, the Horse-Fair; the farthest house on the left hand as you go to Tedbury, leaving the church on your right". This was "a firm house, stone-built, and tiled, of one room (besides a buttery, or the like, within) below, and two chambers above. It was in the innermost where he first drew breath". In April 1639, his brother Edmund showed John Aubrey the specific chamber of his birth.
Upon entering Cavendish service in 1608, Hobbes gained access to various family properties. He spent significant time at the Cavendish country estates, which had "a good library" but lacked "learned conversation"—"a very great inconvenience" he noted. The family owned Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.
Hobbes lived in various London locations throughout his career. After returning from France in 1651, he resided in Fetter Lane until the Restoration. From 1660 until his final departure for Derbyshire in 1675, he lived at successive Cavendish London properties: Little Salisbury House (later converted to the Middle Exchange), then Queen Street, finally Newport House.
In 1675, Hobbes "left London cum animo nunquam revertendi [with the intention of never returning] and spent the remainder of his days in Derbyshire, with the Earl of Devonshire at Chatsworth and Hardwick in contemplation and study".
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| Chatsworth house fountain frontage by Paul Johnson - https://www.flickr.com |
TRAVEL Travel played a crucial role in Hobbes's intellectual development, exposing him to Continental learning and enabling relationships with Europe's leading thinkers. His position as tutor to the Cavendish family provided opportunities for extended European travel that would have been impossible for someone of his social origins otherwise.
His first major journey abroad occurred in 1610, when he accompanied William Cavendish on a Grand Tour through France, Germany, and Italy. This inaugural Continental experience, typical for aristocratic education, allowed the twenty-two-year-old Hobbes to develop his knowledge of languages, classical sites, and European culture.
A second significant tour took place around 1631, when Hobbes again traveled to the Continent with another Cavendish pupil. This journey proved particularly important: in 1634 or 1636, Hobbes met Galileo Galilei in Florence, an encounter he would remember for the rest of his life. He "contracted a friendship with the famous Galileo Galileo, whom he extremely venerated and magnified; and not only as he was a prodigious wit, but for his sweetness of nature and manners". Aubrey notes that "they pretty well resembled one another, as to their countenances" and "had both a consimility of fate, to be hated and persecuted by the ecclesiastics".
His third Continental tour, around 1636-1637, deepened his engagement with the new science and mathematics. During this period, he traveled extensively through France (Paris, Orléans, Lyons), Geneva, and Milan, though wars prevented him from reaching Venice. In Paris, he became part of the intellectual circle surrounding Marin Mersenne, which included leading mathematicians, natural philosophers, and theologians. This network would prove invaluable during his later exile.
When political crisis loomed in 1640, travel became a matter of survival. Hobbes fled to Paris, where he would remain for eleven years (1640-1651). This extended exile, while politically motivated, proved intellectually productive. He had access to Mersenne's circle, opportunities for discussion and debate, and the physical safety needed to complete his major philosophical works.
Hobbes returned to England around 1651-52, making the reverse Channel crossing after more than a decade abroad. The exact date and circumstances remain somewhat unclear, but he appears to have judged England sufficiently "pacified" to risk return.
After 1652, Hobbes's traveling days effectively ended. He spent the remaining twenty-seven years of his life in England, primarily in London with occasional visits to the Cavendish estates in Derbyshire. In 1675, at age eighty-seven, he made his final journey from London to Derbyshire, "with the intention of never returning," to spend his last years at Chatsworth and Hardwick.
Travel thus bookended Hobbes's intellectual career: youthful Continental tours exposed him to new ideas and methods, mature exile in France enabled his most important work, and final withdrawal to the Derbyshire countryside provided peaceful contemplation in old age.
DEATH Thomas Hobbes died on December 4, 1679 at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, aged ninety-one.
In October 1679, Hobbes suffered a bladder disorder, which was followed by a paralytic stroke. The physicians "judged it incurable by reason of his great age and natural decay". About November 20, when the Earl of Devonshire planned to move from Chatsworth to Hardwick, "Mr Hobbes would not be left behind; and therefore with a feather bed laid into the coach; upon which he lay warm clad, he was conveyed safely, and was in appearance as well after that little journey as before it".
However, seven or eight days after arriving at Hardwick, "his whole right side was taken with the dead palsy, and at the same time he was made speechless". He lived another seven days, "taking very little nourishment, slept well, and by intervals endeavoured to speak, but could not. In the whole time of his sickness he was free from fever". He appeared "to die rather for want of the fuel of life (which was spent in him) and mere weakness and decay, than by power of his disease".
Hobbes's final words, "uttered in his final conscious moments," were reportedly "A great leap in the dark"—a phrase befitting a philosopher who spent his life contemplating mortality and the limits of human knowledge. (6)
Aubrey writes: "He was put into a woollen shroud and coffin, which was covered with a white sheet, and upon that a black hearse cloth, and so carried upon men's shoulders, a little mile to church". His body was interred at St. John the Baptist's Church in Ault Hucknall, Derbyshire. "The company, consisting of the family and neighbours that came to his funeral, and attended him to his grave, were very handsomely entertained with wine, burned and raw, cake, biscuit, etc".
His tombstone bore an inscription "purportedly written by himself": "He was a virtuous man, and for his reputation for learning, he was well known at home and abroad". The full Latin inscription read: "Who for many years served Two Devonshires, companion to Father and Son. His honourable conduct and reputation for erudition Were well-known at home and abroad. He died in the year of our Lord 1679 Month of December the 4th day His age 91".
Aubrey recorded that "It is rumored that Hobbes had formerly proposed: 'This is the true philosopher's stone'" as an epitaph, though this was not ultimately used.
APPEARANCES IN MEDIA While Thomas Hobbes himself rarely appears as a character in modern media, his ideas and name have permeated contemporary culture in various ways:
1. Indirect Cultural Influence: The most famous "Hobbes" in popular culture is the stuffed tiger in Bill Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes (1985-1995), named after the philosopher. This pairing of the philosopher Hobbes with the theologian
John Calvin cleverly references both figures' views on human nature.
2. Film and Television: Hobbesian political philosophy has significantly influenced film and television narratives. A genre of "Hobbesian films" emerged between 1979-1996, paralleling the rise of conservatism in the United States, depicting crime, chaos, and the need for strong authority. Films like Death Wish (1974) and Dirty Harry (1971) reflected Hobbesian themes of security versus liberty.
One scholar argues that Hobbes functions as "a science fiction writer" whose myth of the state of nature continues to appear in productions including Star Trek: Discovery and Black Panther, despite these shows' otherwise progressive stances. Game of Thrones has been analyzed as accurately representing Hobbesian symbolism regarding power and sovereignty. (7)
3. Academic and Documentary Media: Numerous educational videos, lectures, and podcasts discuss Hobbes's philosophy, including episodes of Philosophize This! and academic YouTube channels analyzing Leviathan. His ideas appear regularly in political theory courses and documentaries about the history of political thought.
4. Literary References: Shakespeare references often intersect with Hobbesian themes, as Hamlet's "What a piece of work is man" soliloquy appears in films like Blade Runner, Grosse Pointe Blank, and others—connecting Renaissance humanism with Hobbes's later pessimistic anthropology.
5. Physical Representations: Contemporary interest in Hobbes includes his birthplace site marked in Malmesbury, exhibits at Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House where he lived and died, and historical reenactments and tours. His portrait from Life (1663) remains in the Royal Society's collection.
6. Digital Presence: Hobbes's works, especially Leviathan, are widely available as free e-books through Project Gutenberg and other digital libraries. Audiobook recordings, including full unabridged readings, exist on platforms like YouTube. Philosophical databases and online encyclopedias feature extensive entries on his thought.
ACHIEVEMENTS Author of Leviathan, the foundation of Western political philosophy.
Developed the first comprehensive theory of the social contract.
A pioneer of philosophical materialism.
Translated the foundational texts of Greek history and epic poetry into English.
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