(Originally Written February 6, 2006 in Book 4)
A History of Western Philosophy, Vol. 3
W.T. Jones
Chapter 4 - Hobbes
-Hobbes believed that the inhumanity of man warranted an all-powerful government.
-Hobbes stated that the task of philosophy was to work out social, political and ethical theories consistent with the nature of reality.
-Hobbes called matter (which was reality) an independent thing from mind; matter was in perpetual motion.
-Perfect, eternal reality was nonsense to Hobbes.
Hobbes' Philosophy has 3 divisions:
1) Body
2) Man
3) State
Body contains:
1) 'First philosophy'
2) Causality
3) Identity
4) Motion
5) The Special Sciences
Man contains:
1) Cogitating Motions
2) Sensation
3) Association of Ideas
4) Thought distinguished from sensation
5) Scientific knowledge
6) Voluntary motions
7) Relation between Physics and Psychology
8) Religion
The State contains:
1) Laws of nature
2) Necessity for a sovereign
3) Contrast between descriptive and normative theories
Body: First Philosophy
-entails the nature of ultimate reality
-Hobbes did not believe that ultimate reality was perfect in nature; it was 'determinate'
-it was simply the exposition of the most general properties of bodies
-All other philosophers' first philosophy which predated him was useless due to their insistence on the perfect nature of the ultimate reality
Body: Causality
-Hobbes defined a cause as the "aggregate of all the accidents of both of the agents how many soever they be, and of the patient, put together; which when they are all supposed to be present, it cannot be understood but that the effect is produce at the same instant; and if anyone of them be wanting, it cannot be understood but that the effect is not produced" (Jones, 124).
Body: Identity
-no two bodies are the same
-once the principle of individuation is realized to be a matter of defining the name 'same' is, the metaphysical question which vexed us become merely the task of getting others to believe our definition of same
Body: Motion
-Motion is made in less space and time than can be given
-quickness of motion is the swiftness or velocity in which a body moves
-resistance is the endeavor of one moved body in contrary to another body
-force is the quickness of motion multiplied into itself
-motion occurs when two bodies come into contact
Body: The Special sciences
-Physics, Astronomy and the sciences that deal with bodies of determinate magnitude moving at determinate velocity
-we know of changes in these determinate bodies because of the change they put on us
-Hobbes' version of the special sciences was actually a projection of physiology
Man
-Man is nothing but body (matter)
-What distinguishes man from all other matter is motion, of which there are two:
1) Motion involved in knowing
2) Motion involved in willing
Cogitating motions
-phantasms - the knowers of motion
-phantasms are sensations, motions occurring outside the mind, but only the mind knows of the motion (through sensations)
-What we know is only what are body (matter) senses and what we mind infers from these senses. We know only perception of motions and we see those motions as real things, when in fact they are merely motions.
-The problem with this knowledge, which is perception, actually delivers us into thinking there is something in reality
Sensation
-Historically the mind has been thought to have the power of perception, thought, imagination, memory, etc. Hobbes states that these are merely motions in our bodies. According to him, the most primary motion is perception and all other motion is a derivative.
Association of ideas
-There is a pattern in which various phantasms succeed one another; they tend to succeed or come through imagination
-Hobbes' association of ideas was the forerunner of empirical psychology
-He intended to study thought behavior as men study physical objects' behavior and to attribute scientific laws to them
-Hobbes' method failed, but he did point to an important fact: patterns do exist in minds.
Thought distinguished from sensation
- What distinguishes man from animals is not "some spiritual power that reaches into things and collects their intelligible species; still less an immortal soul made in God's image" (Jones, 132). The ability to name things by the law of association is man's distinguishing trait, according to Hobbes.
Names have a twofold use:
1) They help our memory
2) They enable us to communicate with others
By names, a phantasm we can recall it four our own personal use (memory) or to let another understand what were stating about a sensation (communication)
Scientific Knowledge
For Hobbes reasoning is "nothing but reckoning, that is adding and subtracting, of the consequences of general names" (Jones, 134).
Science is the knowledge which results from reasoning.
Scientific knowledge is certain, yet conditional. What we know through science is true of what we perceive that a motion is.
Through his own definition, Hobbes used his philosophy to place man in a place of immense power over nature.
Hobbes lived in a time when men were searching for certainty because they had been convinced that God was no longer certain. A vacuum ensued and men tried to fill the void of certainty with science.
Hobbes rejected that science could fill this void. Experience could give us knowledge, but only of particulars. Reason is certain but it gives us only truths of the "if x is true, then y is true/false" variety.
Hobbes believed that the faith in God, which formerly produced certainty, could only be replaced by the power of the state.
Voluntary Motions
-Voluntary motions are motions caused by phantasms
-phantasms are not merely changes in the cortex. he believed they were the way this change is experienced.
Relation between Physics and Psychology
Psychology can be based on physics because men move toward what they think is good.
Hobbes believed men had 3 basic drives:
1) Competition
2) Diffidence
3) Glory
If Hobbes were correct on this assumption, Hobbes would be correct in believing men are unfit to live in a community
Religion
-Religion is not a primary drive like sex, sleep and elimination. It is a powerful drive though. Its roots can be traced to a combination of fear and egoism.
-Hobbes maintained that religion was a fear
-In order to prevent a reformer's causation of a civil war, anarch and general misery, the sovereign must regulate and control ideals. Reform is bad because it causes terror; terror causes war.
-Hobbes believed that reformers were merely attempting to further their own personal ends.
-Religion is different from other fears because it is completely irrational.
-Men choose their religion based on personal preferences. If man were free to choose their religion they would attempt to subject everyone else to it and cause chaos and war. Thus, the sovereign must choose the religion of the people.
-There is no such thing as a religious truth
The State
-The State is a natural phenomena like body and man, just more complex
-If men followed the laws of nature then he would not need a sovereignty to govern him. Man does not follow these laws; therefore, there is a need for the sovereignty.
-Hobbes begins his theory of State on the premise of the dark nature of man and their incapability of being at peace with one another
The Laws of Nature
-Hobbes bases the laws of nature on the first natural law: the right man has to preserve his own life. All other natural laws are based on this one.
-Aquinas believed that the laws of nature were God's decrees for the universe, in so much as they were simultaneously the way the universe acted and the way it ought to act. For Hobbes, these laws were a number of recommendations based on observed facts and causal relationships.
-Hobbes holds that in the state a sovereign is never unjust because he decides what is just.
-Hobbes believes the theory of moral justification to be a pointless debate. The only thing that matters in the State's sovereign is his power.
Necessity for a Sovereign
-The enlightened egoists could live together without a sovereign because they would be able to see the long-range good of following the natural laws. All men are egoists, just not enlightened. Thus, there is a need for a sovereign to make us follow these laws.
Hobbes theory of State in a nutshell: "All men want peace and security. By doing such-and-such things they could attain in this end. Unfortunately, they are not rational enough to do these things on their own initiative. If, however, they contract together to appoint an all-powerful sovereign he will be in a position to compel them to do these things. Therefore it is sensible to appoint such a sovereign" (Jones, 150).
Contrast between descriptive and normative theories
-Hobbes, unsuccessfully, attempted to fuse descriptive and normative theories
Hobbes' place in the History of Philosophy
Hobbes' antagonism of the norms of society produced a more negative impact on society than positive.
His extreme conclusions made other great minds of the time shy away from his theories.
Hobbes' views are important to Western Civilization in that they form what philosophical synthesis should avoid being.
Hobbes attempts to find a place for value in a world of only pure facts.
Hobbes' contemporaries wanted to adopt his premise for the 'first philosophy' because they were purely scientific. They didn't because they were not willing to come to his conclusion and produce an amoral society.
If medieval philosophy is one extreme (emphasis on values, ignoring of science), Hobbism is its opposite (emphasis on science, ignoring of values).
All philosophy post-Hobbes is to find a medium between the two extremes.
Hobbes was a turning point.
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