Entry
Reader's guide
Entries A-Z
Subject index
Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679)
POLITICAL THINKERS are always products of their times. This is especially true with Thomas Hobbes, whose long life spanned the upheavals of the English Civil War (1642–51) and its aftermath, as well as the discoveries in science and math by contemporaries such as Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Galileo Galilei, Johann Kepler, and Marin Mersenne. Historians of political thought have long appreciated the importance of that context to the formation and nature of Hobbes's political philosophy, although they often disagree, considerably, about how exactly it played out.
Born in Malmesbury, England, in April 1588, Hobbes's earliest formal education was with Robert Latimer, who taught him Latin and Greek. In 1603, he attended Magdalen Hall in Oxford, an experience he wrote of disparagingly. Upon taking his B.A. in ...
- People on the Left
- Anthony, Susan B.
- Bellamy, Edward
- Bentham, Jeremy
- Breitman, George
- Browder, Earl
- Carmichael, Stokely
- Carter, James E.
- Carville, James
- Cleaver, Eldridge
- Clinton, William J.
- Coxey, Jacob
- Croly, Herbert
- Debs, Eugene V.
- Deng Xiaoping
- Douglass, Frederick
- Du Bois, W.E.B.
- Duclos, Jacques
- Dunayevskaya, Raya
- Engels, Friedrich
- Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley
- Foster, William Z.
- Freidan, Betty
- Fromm, Erich
- Ghandi, Mahatma
- Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
- Gitlow, Benjamin
- Goldman, Emma
- Gorbachev, Mikhail
- Guevara, Che
- Hall, Gus
- Hammett, Dashiell
- Harrington, Michael
- Hayden, Tom
- Haywood, William D
- Hillman, Sidney
- Hillquit, Morris
- Hobbes, Thomas
- Hollywood Ten
- Hopkins, Harry
- Hume, David
- Humphrey, Hubert H.
- Jefferson, Thomas
- Johnson, Lyndon B.
- Kefauver, Estes
- Kennedy, John F.
- King, Martin Luther, Jr.
- La Follette, Robert
- Lenin, Vladimir I.
- Lincoln, Abraham
- Lippmann, Walter
- Lloyd, Henry Demarest
- Locke, John
- Long, Huey
- Lovestone, Jay
- Malcolm X
- Marcuse, Herbert
- Marx, Karl
- Moore, Michael
- Mott, Lucretia
- Muste, Abraham J.
- Nader, Ralph
- Nearing, Scott
- O'Neil, Thomas P.
- Orwell, George
- Paul, Alice
- Randolph, A. Philip
- Reed, John
- Roosevelt, Eleanor
- Roosevelt, Franklin D.
- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
- Sacco and Vanzetti
- Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr.
- Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
- Steinem, Gloria
- Stevenson, Adlai E.
- Thomas, Norman M.
- Thompson, Hunter S.
- Trotsky, Leon
- Truman, Harry
- Wallace, Henry A.
- Washington, George
- Wilson, Woodrow
- Wright, Frances
- People on the Right
- Ali, Noble Drew
- Bennett, William J.
- Bilbo, Theodore G.
- Borah, William E.
- Buchanan, Patrick J.
- Buckley, William F., Jr.
- Burke, Edmund
- Bush, George H.W.
- Bush, George W.
- Churchill, Sir Winston
- Coolidge, Calvin
- Coughlin, Charles E.
- Coulter, Ann H.
- Dewey, Thomas E.
- Dos Passos, John
- Drudge, Matt
- Eisenhower, Dwight D.
- Ford, Gerald R.
- Garvey, Marcus
- Gingrich, Newt
- Goldwater, Barry
- Harding, Warren G.
- Hearst, William Randolph
- Hitler, Adolf
- Hoover, Herbert
- Hoover, J. Edgar
- Khomeini, Ruhollah
- La Guardia, Fiorello H.
- Landon, Alfred M.
- Limbaugh, Rush
- Lincoln, Abraham
- Lind, Michael
- Lindbergh, Charles A.
- Luce, Henry R.
- Mises, Ludwig von
- Nietzsche, Friedrich
- Nixon, Richard M.
- Rand, Ayn
- Reagan, Ronald
- Roosevelt, Theodore
- Shockley, William B.
- Sowell, Thomas
- Taft, Robert A.
- Taft, William H.
- Thatcher, Margaret
- Washington, Booker T.
- Will, George F.
- Willkie, Wendell
- Countries/Regions: Left Politics
- Africa
- Argentina
- Asia
- Australia
- Austria
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Czech Republic
- Egypt
- France
- Greece
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea, North
- Korea, South
- Mexico
- Middle East
- Nigeria
- Peru
- Poland
- Russia, Post-Soviet
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- South America
- Soviet Union
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Countries/Regions: Right Politics
- Africa
- Argentina
- Asia
- Australia
- Austria
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Czech Republic
- Egypt
- France
- Greece
- India
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea, South
- Mexico
- Middle East
- Nigeria
- Peru
- Poland
- Russia, Post-Soviet
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- South America
- Soviet Union
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Leftist “Isms”
- Abolitionism
- Anarchism
- Anarcho-Syndicalism
- Bicameralism
- Bolshevism
- Communism
- Communitarianism
- Despotism
- Environmentalism
- Fabianism
- Feminism
- Fourierism
- Liberalism
- Maoism
- Market Socialism
- Marxist Humanism
- Populism
- Postmodernism
- Québec Separatism
- Saint-Simonism
- Socialism
- Socialist Realism
- Stalin and Stalinism
- Syndicalism
- Third Worldism
- Titoism
- Zionism
- Rightist “Isms”
- Agrarianism
- Black Nationalism
- Black Separatism
- Capitalism
- Colonialism
- Conservatism
- Corporatism
- Corsican Separatism
- Darwinism
- Despotism
- Elitism
- Falangism
- Fascism
- Feudalism
- Fundamentalism
- Imperialism
- Isolationism
- Libertarianism
- McCarthyism
- Monarchism
- Nationalism
- Orientalism
- Pan-Africanism
- Patriotism
- Peronism
- Prohibitionism
- Sabbatarianism
- Totalitarianism
- Ultramontanism
- Unilateralism
- Zionism
- Leftist Political Issues
- Abolitionism
- Alienation
- Anarchism
- Anarcho-Syndicalism
- Anti-Globalization
- Bicameralism
- Campaign Finance
- Communism
- Communitarianism
- Cultural Diversity
- Democracy
- Desegregation
- Environmentalism
- Human Rights
- Ideology
- Liberalism
- Lobbying
- Market Socialism
- Media Bias, Left
- Political Economy
- Politically Correct
- Polls and Pollsters
- Social Democracy
- Socialism
- Socialist Realism
- Stalin and Stalinism
- Vietnam War
- Voting, Unrestricted
- Welfare and Poverty
- Rightist Political Issues
- Balance of Power
- Capitalism
- Censorship
- Conservatism
- Corporatism
- Darwinism
- Despotism
- Education
- Ethnic Cleansing
- Fascism
- Foreign Policy, U.S.
- Fundamentalism
- Globalization
- Healthcare
- Ideology
- Isolationism
- Laissez-Faire
- Libertarianism
- Lobbying
- Manifest Destiny
- Media Bias, Right
- Polls and Pollsters
- Realpolitik
- Segregation
- States' Rights
- Technocracy, Inc.
- Theocracy
- Totalitarianism
- Unilateralism
- Vietnam War
- Welfare and Poverty
- Xenophobia
- Leftist Laws
- Abortion/Pro-Choice
- American Civil Liberties Union
- Animal Rights
- Bill of Rights
- Censorship
- Church and State Separation
- Civil Liberties
- Civil Rights
- Constitutional Amendments
- Consumer Rights
- Death Penalty Elimination
- Desegregation
- First Amendment
- Freedom of Information
- Gun Control
- Healthcare
- Human Rights
- Immigration
- Lobbying
- New Deal
- Social Security
- Supreme Court
- Voting, Unrestricted
- Welfare and Poverty
- Rightist Laws
- Leftist Political Parties
- African National Congress
- American Civil Liberties Union
- Black Panthers
- Catholic Worker
- Christian Democracy
- Communist Party, Soviet
- Democratic Party
- Green Party
- Greenback Party
- Labour Party, UK
- Liberal Party, Australia
- Liberal Party, Canada
- Liberal Party, Hong Kong
- Liberal Party, UK
- PRI (Mexico)
- Progressive Party
- Socialist Party, U.S.
- Socialist Workers' Party, UK
- Suffragists
- Workers Party
- Workingmen's Party
- Rightist Political Parties
- Leftist Political Movements
- Abortion/Pro-Choice
- Affirmative Action
- Anarcho-Syndicalism
- Animal Rights
- Anti-Globalization
- Bolshevism
- Civil Rights
- Consumer Rights
- Death Penalty Elimination
- Democracy
- Desegregation
- Environmentalism
- Feminism
- Gay and Lesbian Movements
- Gun Control
- Human Rights
- Niagara Movement
- Palestine Liberation Organization
- Postmodernism
- Protests
- Solidarity
- Students for a Democratic Society
- Suffragists
- Zionism
- Rightist Political Movements
- Loading...