Philosopher · Early modern period · England

Thomas Hobbes

1588–1679

English thinker whose Leviathan of 1651 founded modern political philosophy on the social contract. Men in the state of nature live in war of all against all, so they surrender power to a sovereign. He lived 1588 to 1679.

Facts

Born: 1588, Malmesbury, England.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Thomas Hobbes
Died: 1679, Hardwick Hall, England, at ninety one.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Thomas Hobbes
School: Materialism and contract theory.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Thomas Hobbes
Known for: Leviathan: the state of nature as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, and the absolute sovereign as the escape from it.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Thomas Hobbes

Images

Portrait of Thomas Hobbes by John Michael Wright (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Connected

PhilosopherJohn Locke1632–1704 PhilosopherJean-Jacques Rousseau1712–1778

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