Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is considered one of the most important and influential English philosophers. A Renaissance man, educated in diverse fields of knowledge, Hobbes distinguished himself precisely by... LeviathanThomas Hobbes is the first treatise on political philosophy to refer to the need for a social contract. However, his work and influence were significant in fields as diverse as History, Geometry, Theology, Ethics, Jurisprudence, and Philosophy in general. The son of a clergyman who despised knowledge and education beyond the strictly necessary, Thomas Hobbes was fortunate that family circumstances left him and his family in the care of a wealthy merchant uncle. He attended various schools before arriving at Oxford University, and even before entering, he had translated Euripides' Medea from Greek into Latin. He was tutor and secretary to a noble family and, with one of its members, traveled through Europe absorbing different knowledge opposed to the scholastic regime he had experienced at Oxford. Despite associating with, corresponding with, and even working with several important figures such as Ben Jonson and Francis Bacon, Hobbes only dedicated himself to philosophy from 1629 onwards, after having made fundamental translations of Greek and Latin classics. His fame as a philosopher grew after stays in Italy and France to the point that, in 1645, he was called upon to moderate, with Descartes and Roberval, a philosophical dispute of European impact on the squaring of the circle. Hobbes spent most of the Civil War period in Paris, working as a tutor and preparing to publish and translate some books, notably the Leviathan, which saw the light of day near the end of the war. During the Restoration period, his works were attacked on charges of heresy, but he had the protection of King Charles II, who had been his pupil, resulting only in the prohibition of the publication in England of works with themes close to human conduct. He wrote and translated until the end of his long life.