Here at Roger Williams University Monday classes are transferred to Tuesday, and Tuesday classes are not held. We owe this to the Celebration of the day when Europeans Discovered the “New World,” as they called it sometime later. Christopher Columbus, an Italian mariner working for Spain, is the person in whose name the holiday is celebrated. The real day of discovery was October 12, 1492. So I like to think we’re “really” celebrating Leif Eriksson day, the other years in honor of the Viking who discovered the New World centuries before Columbus. Unfortunately, the Scandinavians were a little absent minded and lost it again. So Happy Leif Eriksson Day! Or, if you insist, Happy Columbus Day. Maybe Native American Day would be best of all.
You'll notice we're jumping back moving to Europe, just about the time New England was becoming settled. During the medieval era, there was not much theory involved in governing beyond questions of ethics and justice proposed by theologians. The Renaissance, and the Enlightenment which followed, saw a rebirth of interest in the human intellect, and a new belief that people could use their intellectual faculties to understand and then shape the world in which they lived. Thomas Hobbes, operating in this new intellectual environment, investigates why humans form societies in the first place
The kind of work Hobbes did can best be understand as a form of intellectual speculation. Before one can look to questions of the best form of government, one must probe more basic questions: What are humans like? How does fundamental human nature create a need for society? (Note the concept is society, not government. For Hobbes, these are quite different things. After one determines what society is for, one can then create a theoretical model for the government which society needs.
Leave yourself good time to devote to Hobbes, as he is going to be difficult going. The language is old-fashioned, for one thing. Aside from some words you may need to discover (remember http://www.dictionary.com), the main problem will be the older form of verbs. In our day “th, or “eth” endings have become more or less obsolete, replaced by “s” or “es”. As you work on this,
•keep an eye on Hobbes’ concept of Leave yourself good time to devote to Hobbes, as he is going to be difficult going. The language is old-fashioned, for one thing. Aside from some words you may need to discover (remember http://www.dictionary.com), the main problem will be the older form of verbs. In our day “th, or “eth” endings have become more or less obsolete, replaced by “s” or “es”. As you work on this,
keep an eye on Hobbes’ concept of equality.
keep another eye on Hobbes’ view of human nature, or personality, or psychology (he doesn’t use those terms, but he does describe how he thinks we behave).
keep a third eye (you do have three, don’t you?) on how Hobbes argues his case. How does he prove his assertions? We’ll be looking at a new way to argue, the hypothetical instance.
Use these points for you markups for the dropbox.
Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679) lived in a time of great political unrest in England. Click on either image for biographical information which may help explain his thought. Note, too, how differently he is portrayed by these two artists. What is each trying to suggest about his character.
Thomas Hobbes was no friend to Democracy. The illustration to the left is adapted from the frontispiece of his major work, Leviathan. The Puzzle above shows the king (Charles I of England) guarding his realm with a sword (symbol of state), and a staff (the King of England was head of the English Church, and had been since the days of Henry VIII.) The King's body is composed of scores of Englishmen, making him literally the head of the nation. The entire text of Leviathan is available on line Click on the image at the left to read more if you wish. This artist seemed to have a more favorable opinion of old Thomas
