Thomas Hobbes And The English Civil War

Hobbes, one of the greatest political theorists of all time, believes his idea of how a society should be governed is superior to any other form of governing because his has been developed through a scientific approach. It seems, however, that his ideas are formed not so much by science but by the events of his time, especially the English Civil War. Hobbes believed the Sovereign of a society did not necessarily have to be a single individual (like the Monarch) but could also be a group of officials (like the parliament), what was essential to Hobbes was that all people be in awe of the Sovereign’s power. The power held by the Sovereign must be sufficient to cause fear in the minds of the individual men. This seems rather outdated but what

In England, there was relative peace, though lack of liberty (which is not as important, Hobbes argues, as protection from violent death), under the monarch but once the people of England lost their obedience to the king, they lost their state of peace and comfort as well. It seems nearly impossible that this war would not have affected Hobbes’ political philosophy. Assuming the events which Hobbes lived through affected his writings it would go against the practice of scientific study to not acknowledge this background in Leviathan. Instead, he feels compelled to insist on the validity of this system of a powerful Sovereign because, he states, men will naturally come to the state of war unless they under the rule of the Sovereign. When Hobbes writes “The skill of making and maintaining commonwealths consisteth in certain rules, as doth arithmetic and geometry, not (as tennis-play) on practice…” (Leviathan chapter 20, section 19) it discounts all the variables that occur in the real world, where, unlike arithmetic and geometry, commonwealths exists. Even geometry requires different rules under different circumstances. As well, many problems faced by states, or Commonwealths, are Wicked Problems wherein the problem cannot be agreed upon until it is solved and the solution can only be found through trial and error, making it more similar to a form of practice rather than set rules. Science can help advance society and often plays a supporting role in the structure of government, but it seems unlikely that, as Hobbes states, science is the utmost authority in determining how a Commonwealth should be