Thomas Hobbes

The ideas of Hobbes are of relevance to modern political problems. Hobbes had much to say that bears directly on the questions of rights of individuals and minorities, the limits of state power, the legitimacy of civil disobedience and the nature of international relations. By rigorous argument from first principles, he tried to show that human survival necessitates absolute state power but that rulers should not use their power to suppress unorthodox opinions. Too often commentators on Hobbes have failed to grasp his meaning because they have ignored the historical context in which he wrote. Drawing on much recent scholarship and many little-known 17th-century sources, the author sets Hobbes' teachings on the "state of nature", the origins of government, the powers of rulers, the nature of the family and other issues against a backcloth of contemporary discussions. Indeed, the author argues that a great deal of what Hobbes had to say cannot be properly understood unless it is seen in the context of 17th-century political and religious debates - debates which helped to bring civil war to England in the 1640s, and which fuelled warfare on the European continent for much of the 17th