Thomas Hobbes
English philosopher and political theorist
Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher and political theorist who lived from 1588 to 1679. He wrote Leviathan, a 1651 work on social contract theory.
1 summary 21 min of listening
English Born 1588 in Westport Died 1679
Influenced by Aristotle, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thucydides
About Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588 in Westport, near Malmesbury in Wiltshire. He studied at Oxford and graduated from Cambridge in 1608, then became a tutor to the Cavendish family. That role led to long journeys across Europe, where he met figures such as Galileo. The English Civil War shaped his argument in Leviathan for rule by an absolute sovereign. The book also popularised the idea of a state of nature, sometimes described as a war of all against all. His other works include De Cive, De Corpore, De Homine and the posthumous Behemoth. Hobbes also worked in history, geometry, optics, theology and ethics. He translated the Iliad, the Odyssey and the History of the Peloponnesian War into English.