Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). English philosopher. Hobbes was born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, and educated at Oxford University. For much of his life he worked as a private tutor, his pupils including the Prince of Wales (later Charles II) in the 1640s. He knew many leading thinkers of the day, including Bacon, Galileo, and Descartes. His principal work Leviathan (1651; 1668) applies the principles of scientific materialism to the study of man in society. Hobbes argues that man is inherently selfish and driven by his appetites; because of this, public order needs to be imposed by an absolute ruler. In accordance with these views he supported Cromwell during the Interregnum and the monarchy after the Restoration.
