AustLit

Editor's note: This digital portfolio was completed by Georgia Rose Ramsey for PHIL2013 and published by Cirrus as an example of superlative student work.

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Thomas Hobbes was a landmark philosopher of the early modern period, best known for his political philosophy, which brought social contractarianism to the forefront of arguments about government, interaction, and the best way to live in a time when the power of religious ethical doctrine was waning. Most significantly, he claimed that if one were to follow logic of social contracts to its conclusion, one would agree that submitting to a dictator is the most peaceful way of organising a society. To properly understand the arguments which lead him to his controversial political claims, we must first understand the foundations of his philosophy.

As such, the purpose of this portfolio will be to explore his philosophy from the ground up, beginning with his metaphysics, primarily his physicalism and beliefs about philosophy of language. On this basis, he subscribes epistemologically to a naturalistic view of the world, including human nature, and interacts with Descartes' theory of automata. From this, he constructs his ethical theory, and the culmination of these views is his political philosophy. I will discuss his prioritisation of a certain kind of peace, the birth of social contractarianism from this discussion, and the nature of his critics and influencers; if Hobbes has provided one thing to the philosophical world, it is a devil's advocate, something to be argued against, and many important political philosophers have done exactly that in the ensuing time.

I conclude that Hobbes' philosophy has many strong qualities and its significance cannot be ignored. The influence of social contractarianism is so far-spread it would be impossible to figure out where it ends and our modern systems of justice, law, and government begin. However, certain assumptions underlying his arguments, particularly about human nature, are controversial at best.