Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub
[graphic]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

I

HOBBES ON GOVERNMENT 1

NOTWITHSTANDING the unpopularity, amounting almost to infamy, with which his name was long, and in some measure is still, surrounded, Hobbes has a right to be considered as the father of modern English philosophy, and indeed as the father of that great school of thought which at present has possession of the greater part of the intelligence of Europe. Hobbes leads straight to Locke, and in some particulars goes beyond him. Locke was the teacher of Berkeley. Berkeley was the master of Hume. In Hume are to be found the germs-and highly developed germs they are of the most valuable part

1 Philosophical Rudiments concerning Government and Society; or, a Dissertation concerning Man in his several Habitudes and Respects as the Member of a Society, first secular and then sacred. Containing the Elements of Civil Politie in the Agreement which it hath both with Natural and Divine Laws, in which is demonstrated both what the Origin of Justice is, and wherein the Essence of Christian Religion doth consist; together with the Nature, Limits, and Qualifications both of Regiment and Subjection. By Thomas Hobbes. 1651.

VOL. II

B

of Comte, and the leading doctrines of the school of which Bentham, Austin, and James and John Mill are the most conspicuous members. Nay, in a sense, Hume was the progenitor of Kant, for Kant's concessions in the negative direction were made to satisfy Hume's speculations, and his positive doctrines were meant to act as fortifications against them. Hobbes, again, must have taken much of the tone of his mind from his master (in the literal sense of the word), Bacon; and thus we have an unusually distinct catena of philosophy for very nearly three hundred years, from Bacon to our own days.

Hobbes, like other writers of his day, is much more often talked about than studied, and it may be doubted whether the true character of his doctrines, and their relation to some of the most vigorous forms of modern speculation, is as well understood as it deserves to be. In illustration of this subject we propose to examine shortly some of the leading propositions of one of the most characteristic of his books his treatise on the general principles of Government. It cannot, of course, be fully understood in all its connections without reference to other parts of the author's works and theories; but it forms a connected whole in reference to one of the principal subjects of human thought, and affords one of the best specimens of its author's turn of mind.

Notwithstanding its elaborate title-page, the treatise on Government is very short. It consists only of about 360 small 8vo pages, but its brevity is

« PredošláPokračovať »