Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588 in England and educated at Oxford, but much of his intellectual formation came through service to the Cavendish family, which gave him access to travel, classical learning, and continental science. The violence and instability of the English Civil War pushed him to think hard about fear, security, and the basis of political order. In Leviathan he argued that peace depends on a common power strong enough to prevent the war of all against all. His materialism and social contract theory helped set the terms of modern political philosophy.

Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588 in England and educated at Oxford, but much of his intellectual formation came through service to the Cavendish family, which gave him access to travel, classical learning, and continental science. The violence and instability of the English Civil War pushed him to think hard about fear, security, and the basis of political order. In Leviathan he argued that peace depends on a common power strong enough to prevent the war of all against all. His materialism and social contract theory helped set the terms of modern political philosophy.