Question

1. What were the major influences on Thomas Hobbes’s thinking?

2. What major political arguments did Hobbes present in Leviathan?





3. What was Hobbes’s lasting impact on government?

Answer 1

1. Hobbes’s major influence was what he experienced during the English civil wars, as, since he was a royalist, he was afraid of persecution if parliament went against the king.

2. Hobbes presented the argument that the only correct form of government is an absolute monarchy. The reason for this is so that all important decisions can be carried out/decided upon quickly by one, intelligent ruler.

3. Hobbes’s ideas of people being selfish influenced groups such as the federalists,which wanted to have the U.S. Constitution