Thomas Hobbes
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Revision as of 20:37, 18 May 2007
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 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:
