Editing Thomas Hobbes

'''Thomas Hobbes''' (15??-16??) was an English philosopher. He was the opposite of [[John Locke]].

==Important Ideas==

Hobbes wrote, in his masterwork [[Leviathan]], about his ideas on life and government and mankind. He felt that people needed a leader, a tyrant- a Leviathan, if you will- to keep them in order. He valued [[order]] above any other goal of government. Without this Leviathan, Hobbes felt, [[chaos]] and [[anarchy]] would surely ensue. His ideas have similarities to [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]]'s [[Social Contract]] theory. Yeah, Hobbes had some harsh ideas about man's natural state. But they're pretty accurate. Like [[Freud]]'s.

==Influences==

Hobbes is echoed by history. The Leviathan is an emperor, a dictator, a benevolent despot. He knows what's best for the people. Like [[Josef Stalin]]. The idea that people need [[Big Brother]] to watch over them has been surprisingly popular over the past few millennia. Leave people to their own devices and you got savagery, murder, civil war. But slam them under an [[iron fist]] and it's all hunky dory. A notable influence of Mr. Hobbes is the tiger from the comic strip [[Calvin & Hobbes]], who shares his name.

See Also:
*[[Government]]
*[[England]]