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Leviathan

by Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan Summary and Analysis of Book I: Introduction,Chapters 1-5

SummaryHobbes saw the purpose of the Leviathan as explaining the concepts of man and citizenship; heconceved of the work as contributing to a larger, three-pronged philosophical project that wouldexplain nature in addition to these two phenomena. To begin his project, Hobbes argues that tounderstand the state we first need to understand mankind, since the state is nothing but an artificialman. To extend the metaphor, the sovereign of the state is like the soul of a man; the magistrates of thestate like a man's joints; and the rewards and punishments doled out by the state like the nerves of man.According to Hobbes, the proper way to understand all men is to turn our thoughts inward and studyone man (namely oneself), for to understand the thoughts, desires, and reasons of ourselves is tounderstand them in all mankind.

The natural starting point for understanding the thoughts of man is sense, since "there is no conceptionin mans mind, which hath not at first, totally, or by parts, been begotten upon the organs of sense." Inother words, all thought and knowledge is in some way derived from our sensing the objects and matterof the external world. Central to the idea of sense is motion, for as Hobbes has laid out previously in hiswork on nature, the external world is nothing but a series of motions where objects chaotically interactwith each other. Human beings, ourselves parts of the external world, are no different than these objectsand interact with the external world through such motion. Specifically, when we sense objects, we do sobecause the motions of an object "press upon" or interact with our sensory organs, which in turns setsoff another set of motions within our body that eventually end at our brain, and leave us with a feeling ofthe object sensed being hot or cold, loud or quiet, light or dark, etc.

The concept of motion explains how Hobbes goes from sense to what he calls "imagination" or"decaying sense." According to the prevailing Aristotelian physics during Hobbes' time, an object'snatural state was rest. Yet Hobbes argued exactly the opposite: objects are constantly in motion, or to

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put it in Newtonian terms (which was to be later formulated 1687), an object in motion will remain inmotion unless acted upon by an outside force. Now, after an object induces motion (and hence, sense)within us is removed, the feelings or impression it left us with do not automatically disappear. Themotion set off by originally sensing this object gradually goes away, or decays, over time when someother sense or offsetting motion occurs. For example, you can still picture the image of something youexperienced when your eyes are closed, and can still imagine a stove being hot even when you are nottouching it. In other words, just because we are not directly sensing something does not mean that wehave lost the feeling or impression it originally left us with. We can imagine things we no longer directlysense, and have memories of feelings past, which make up our experience.

While animals have, in some respect, memories and imaginations of their own, what distinguisheshumans from other animals, according to Hobbes, is understanding or thought. Thought, or thetransition from one imagination or memory to another, is not as random as it sometimes seems, and canbe divided into two types: guided and unguided. Unguided thoughts, like those in a dream, may appearto be disconnected, but in reality are quick successions of thoughts connected by experience. Forexample, you might pass a hair salon and start to crave meatloaf. This might seem random at first, but ifyou think hard about a hair salon you might remember having to sit quietly at the salon in yourhometown while your mom got her hair done; and having spoken to your mother earlier in the day, youmight remember the meatloaf she made for you back as a child.

Regardless of how outlandish and random a thought may seem, Hobbes argues it can be traced back toa perfectly logical train of thought (which goes along with Hobbes' thesis about constantly interactingmotions in our mind). Guided thought concerns ends and means, and can itself be divided into twosubsets: 1) when we begin with a desire - or end - and think of what means will bring about this desiredend, and 2) when we are in possession of some general means, and then think about what sorts of endswe can achieve with it.

Thoughts are internal, and the way we express thoughts is through speech, which helps us to rememberour past thoughts and express them to others. Hobbes identifies four main uses of speech: 1) toremember cause and effect relations, 2) to show others our knowledge, 3) to express our will and desireto others, and 4) for sheer pleasure. Note that in all four cases, speech is conceived pragmatically. It is apractical instrument for expressing our thoughts to others.

Speech is also the basis of truth, as "truth consisteth in the right ordering of names in our affirmations."For example, "A man is a living creature" is a true statement, but only insofar as people share the samedefinitions of what the meanings of the words, "man," "is," and "living creature." We can see from thisdefinition of truth the necessity of settling upon agreed definitions. Hobbes believes that geometry, "theonly Science that it hath pleased God hitherto to bestow upon mankind," provides a model thatphilosophy should emulate. Specifically, geometry begins first by establishing agreed upon definitions,and from these proceeds logically through reason to build further principles and conclusions.

Additionally, Hobbes argues that truth, or the validity of reason, which he defines as the "Reckoning (thatis, Adding and Subtracting) of the Consequences of generall names agreed upon," is not establishedbecause a great number of people agree upon something, or (contrary to Plato and his Philosopher King

in The Republic) because a particularly enlightened person says so. No man's reason is infallible,and so man's reason should be trusted without proof. Therefore, reason - proceeding from onestatement to the next in a logical order - can only be verified by oneself individually.

Thus, since definitions, truth, first-principles and reason cannot be founded upon natural science,general consensus or a particularly enlightened person, Hobbes argues that there must be some agreed-upon judge or body that establishes such things. One should note that establishing an agreed-uponbody does not contradict Hobbes' earlier argument against truth by consensus. Hobbes objects to

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inherited or traditional forms of truth. In other words, something is not true for Hobbes simply becausemany people believe it to be true, or because it has been traditionally considered true. Truth for Hobbes,rather, must follow from consent. When people consent to join a larger body of truth, that larger body islegitimated. Foreshadowing his argument for an agreed-upon sovereign, Hobbes claims thatestablishing sovereignty by consent is the only way to avoid conflict among people.

AnalysisThroughout Leviathan, Hobbes argues against the "Scholastic" philosophy of Aristotle. This is particularlythe case in the early parts of Leviathan, where Hobbes argues directly against Aristotle's' philosophy ofessentialism. According to this school of thought, objects in the external world have a certain "essence"that gives them the qualities that humans experience through their senses. For example, when we see ared apple there is an inherent "redness" to the apple that is transmitted to us through sense. Thus, thereis some objective essence or meaning to objects that we experience. Contrary to this, Hobbes arguesthat our sensory experience is entirely subjective. He argues that to speak of any sort of essence like"redness" in the absence of an object is absurd, since we can only experience that which we can sense.When we see an apple we are not privy to some ethereal "redness," but instead just see a color that wehave come to call "red." Following from this, what gives an object meaning is not some essence inheringin an object, but our own subjective experience of external bodies.

Hobbes' discussion of speech and truth is in stark contrast to philosophers like Plato who espouseuniversalism with regard to truth. According to these schools of thought, there is an objective truth thathumans can know, which should serve as the basis for any philosophical system. Hobbes' argument thattruth is a social construct and founded upon language has a anti-elitist strain to it, particularly his claimthat no man's reason is infallible, regardless of how esteemed the man is, or how entrenched in traditiontheir thoughts may be. Hobbes argues that a human being can only know the world through his or herown sensing organs. Thus he or she is the only standard through which rational social organization canbe measured.

One might think that because Hobbes' argument starts with sense, his philosophy should begin withnatural science - that is, with definitions and first principles derived from our knowledge of the externalworld. Yet in defining sense as he has, Hobbes implicitly denies humans access to objective truth. Weexperience the external world subjectively, and contrary to Aristotle, do not experience some objective"essence" of external bodies. Since our knowledge of the external world is entirely subjective, it maydiffer from one individual to another, and thus the external world, for Hobbes, serves as a poorfoundation for philosophy.

Hobbes' argument that all experience, and hence, all knowledge comes from sense can also be seen asan argument against innate knowledge, and for the tabula rosa (blank slate) model of the human mind.This model proposes that we enter the world without knowledge, and accumulate knowledge onlythrough contact with external stimuli. Yet if the mind is nothing but a blank slate, how can we imaginethings that we have never sensed? To use a famous counter-example, surely we can all imagine aunicorn - just take a horse and put a horn on it - even though they do not exist. How can this be?Hobbes argues that such imaginative entities are the result of "compounded imagination": i.e., you taketwo objects or qualities you have direct experience with (which is a form of your "simple imagination")and combine them in your mind to create this new image. Horn plus horse equals unicorn.

Finally, it's important to note that Hobbes' argument in the early parts of Leviathan unfolds like ageometric proof. Hobbes carefully defines terms like sense, memory, and reason, and proceeds step-by-step, each definition building upon the last. He sees geometry as the model by which all logic can bejudged, and so follows suit. Some readers might sense a contradiction in this approach: Hobbes argues

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that truth can only be established by a common authority, so how can he ask us to accept his argument,which proceeds without such an authority but only from one man's (Hobbes' own) mind? In this regard,Hobbes invites the reader to 'bear with him' for the duration of the argument, and then to see if theconclusions and principles he derives make sense. In other words, Hobbes hopes that he can attain"common authority" in retrospect, once his arguments have been weighed and argued by society.However philosophically imperfect this may seem, in the absence of objective truths, this is the only wayfor any theory to proceed: people must temporarily grant the argument clout and judge it 'after the fact'.Thus, it is all the more important that Hobbes not merely advance conclusions that readers agree with,but rather show the validity of his reasoning through careful logic.

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how hobbes drawthe idea of socialcontract? it it hecontradict the pointof lock on socialcontract?Gradesaver covers this topic in full ontheir "About" page. Simply follow thedirect link provided below.

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Asked by amna k #442992Answered by jill d #170087 7 monthsago 5/11/2015 6:04 PM

1. Does thestrongest man haveany benefit over theweakest because heis the strongest?No they have the same  benefit

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Nature to SocietyHobbes has laid out a general case forhow humans come to live in society,namely, that they are driven to it byfear. In order to have a more thoroughpicture of how society comes about,Hobbes directs his attention tohumannature, so that we can...

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Leviathan Questions and Answers

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find answers, and discuss the novel.

Essays for LeviathanLeviathan literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily bystudents and provide critical analysis of Leviathan.

An Examination of Leviathan and The Second Treatise ofGovernmentSocial Fragmentation in the Leviathan: A Critique of Hobbes

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Social Fragmentation in the Leviathan: A Critique of HobbesThe Purpose of LanguageMelville's Political Thought in "Moby-Dick"Lock, Hobbes, and the Federalist Papers

E-Text of LeviathanLeviathan E-Text contains the full text of Leviathan

IntroductionPart 1: Of Man, Chapters 1-5Part 1: Of Man, Chapters 6-10Part 1: Of Man, Chapters 11-16Part 2: Of Commonwealth, Chapters 17-21

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