Geometry and Politics: Mathematics in the Thought of Thomas Hobbes

Author(s): Hardy Grant

Source: Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Jun., 1990), pp. 147-154
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
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ARTICLES
and Politics:
Geometry
intheThought
Mathematics
ofThomasHobbes
HARDY GRANT

YorkUniversity
NorthYork,Ontario,Canada M3J1P3

It is a commonplaceof intellectualhistorythatthe 17thcentury'sexplosivedevelopment of mathematizedscience offereda seductive example in other spheres of

thought.The successesof this"ScientificRevolution"seemed to reston conceptual
foundations
and to use methodswhose adoptionpromisedsimilartriumphs
wherever
tried.The physicists'isolation,in thoughtand experiment,
of categoriesamenableto
quantification-mass,velocity,acceleration,force-had allowed the derivationof
rigorous"laws" (Galileo's accountoffreefall,Newton'sofuniversalgravitation);
why
shouldnototherareas ofstudyachieveso much?The clarityofideas,the certainty
of
inference,
characteristic
ofmathematical
thinking
becamebeacons.The "geometrical"
mannerof presentinga subject,stemmingfromEuclid's Elementsand adoptedby
Galileo and Newtonalike-the step-by-step
deductionofresultsfromexplicitdefinitionsand axioms-gave a modelto thosewho wouldorganizeand expoundtheirown
realmsto best advantage(Spinoza's Ethics is perhapsthe most strikingexample).
Few thinkersfeltmore deeply the lure of the new science and its mathematical
mystiquethanthegreatBritishphilosopherThomasHobbes,theauthorof Leviathan.
Though his primaryconcerns-politics, morals,the law-might seem far from
physicalscience in subject and spirit,Hobbes came to believe that mathematical
categoriesand methodsmightbe broughtto bear even here, and mightbring
and agreementwhereconfusionand discordnotoriously
understanding
prevailed.
Like all ofus he was shaped as muchby his personalhistoryas by the spiritofhis
he made his way up the social scale by
age. The son of a disreputableclergyman,
attachinghimself,aged nineteen(1608), to a noble familyas tutor,onlyto findhis
employerin shakyfinancialstraits;his ensuingsense of insecurity
mayhave been an
and science'. Moreoverhis careerhad
impulsetowardthe certaintiesofmathematics
forbackgrounda painftiland protractedtimeof social strife:the PuritanRebellion,
the "Long Parliament"(1640-53), civil war, the beheadingof a king (Charles I,
ofthe monarchy
1649), the ascendancyof Cromwell,the eventualrestoration
(1660).
The royalistphilosopherfoundit prudentto spend eleven of these turbulentyears
(1640-51) in exile in Paris.*In his eyes the conflicts
tearinghis homelandseemedto
and
to
the
worst
of
social
typify
ills,
givepracticalurgencyto a rationalreconstruction
of politicallife. Meanwhilehis European travelsbroughtpersonalencounterswith
some of the makersof the ScientificRevolution.In Florencehe soughtout Galileo,
then (1636) an old man; what passed between them is not known,but Hobbes
he declared,"of all thatfled"2-ratherlike the Duke of Plaza-Toroin The Gondoliers.
*"The first,"
147

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MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

reveredthe pioneeringItalian as "the firstthat opened to us the gate of natural

understanding
of motion3.In Paris he
philosophyuniversal"
-namely, the scientific
was made welcomein the circleoftheAbbe MarinMersenne,who acted as a sortof
age. Throughthis
humanpost officeformanyof the leadingwitsof thatexhilarating
valuable intermediary
Hobbes bandied ideas at long rangewithDescartes,untilthe
two greatthinkersat last met face to face (1648). Hobbes (if we maybelieve John
Aubrey'sdelectable"brieflife"ofhim)said ofDescartesthat"had he kepthimselfto
Geometryhe had been the best Geometerin the worldbut thathis head did notlye
forPhilosophy"4 thoughwe shall see thathe actuallyhad no use forDescartes'
mathematics
either.
he
philosophy;
His own earlytrainingwas in thehumanities-theclassics,history,
WillAubrey'smuch-quoted
cameto mathematics
relatively
latein life,butmemorably.
tale bear recyclingone moretime?
He was 40 yeares old before he looked on Geometry;which happened
accidentally.Being in a Gentleman'sLibrary,Euclid's Elementslay open, and
theorem].He
'twas the 47 El. libri I [i.e., Book I, Prop.47-the "Pythagorean"
read the Proposition.By G-, sayd he (he would now and then sweare an
emphaticallOath by way of emphasis) this is impossible!So he reads the
Demonstrationof it, which referredhim back to such a Proposition;which
he read.Thatreferred
himback to another,whichhe also read.Et sic
proposition
convincedofthattrueth.
deinceps[and so on] thatat last he was demonstratively
This made himin love withGeometry.
Subsequentlyhe indulgedhis new passionforthe Queen ofthe Sciences by making
diagramsand calculationson his thighsor on his bedsheets.5
but usuallyhis
So spurred,he went on to write manypages on mathematics,
progressgoingon around
enthusiasmoutranhis insight.Much of the mathematical
him passed him by. A centuryafterthe workon cubic equationsthatforcedeven
"imaginaries"into the realm of number,Hobbes restrictedthe latterconcept to
itsdiscretecharacterwiththemanycontinupositiveintegers,and sharplycontrasted
ous magnitudesof geometryand physics6;so lingeringwas a dichotomythathad
on the
of classic Greece. Hobbes lookedbaleftilly
coloredthe mathematics
fatefully
introduction,
by Viete, Descartes and others,of algebraicsymbolism;he conceded
but "theyought
thatthese new marksseemed vitalas "scaffoldsof demonstration,"
no moreto appear in public,thanthe mostdeformednecessarybusinesswhichyou
he claimedwithcompleteconfidencethe
do in yourchambers."'7Most notoriously,
duplicationof the cube, "hithertosoughtin vain",and the squaringof the circle;we
mayjudge his graspof thislatterproblemby his declarationthatan "ordinary"man
mightaccomplishit betterthan any geometer,by simply"windinga small thread
abouta givencylinder".8 Not an inspiringpicture;but mightone at least conjecture,
on the ledger's other side, that Hobbes' preoccupationwith mathematicshelped
shape the superbclarityand vigorof his prose?
of
In anycase he needed no greattechnicalcompetenceto declarethe importance
and mathematized
scienceas modelsin otherrealms.He was convinced
mathematics
thattherecan be no trueknowledgeanywherewithoutpropermethod,and thathere
he feltthe inadequacy,even
the geometersand physicistsheld the key.Increasingly
in social and politicalinquiry,of otherpurportedpaths to truth.He abandonedan
earlybeliefthatuniversalveritiesaboutmen and statescan be reachedby induction
froma studyof history;indeed,he urged,in no inquirywill the mere amassingof
howeverregularand consistent,
yield generallaws-"experience conobservations,

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VOL. 63, NO. 3, JUNE 1990

149

cludethnothinguniversally."9Hobbes also denied (what Romanticism

would later
assert)thatwisdomcan come froma "sudden acuteness,"froma leap of intuitive
insight;and he poured scornon thinkerswho claimed divine inspirationfortheir
profundities,
who "take theirown Dreams,and extravagant
Fancies, and Madnesse,
fortestimoniesof Gods Spirit"'. No, onlythe mathematicians'
method,only strict
deductionfromsure premises,would serve. But this approach,so successfulin
geometryand physics,had never(Hobbes urged)been applied outsidethosefields.
Geometryis "the onely Science that it hath pleased God hithertoto bestow on
mankind"".Thus he did not blush to claim his own applicationof its methodas
historic.He saw in his worka parallelto the scientific
breakthroughs
thatloomedso
in his time.Astronomy,
dramatically
he declared,had maturedonlywithCopernicus,
biologywithWilliamHarvey(the discovererof the circulationof the blood),physics
withGalileo,politicalsciencewith-himself.'2
But how does thepathto trueknowledgeworkin practice?Hobbes insistedon the
vital preliminary
role of the precise definitionof terms.All fruitful
reasoning,he
urged,so begins.'3 Properdefinitions
evoke "perfectand clear ideas of... things"
(thisofcourseechoes Descartes);theyallowa precisionofdiscoursethatbanishesthe
verbalambiguity
and muddle,the "snareofwords,"forwhichHobbes felta lifelong
have been made rigorous,inference(said
contemptand horror.'4When definitions
The "sum",so to
Hobbes) mayproceedin a mannersimilarto additionin arithmetic.
say, of termsmay be anotherterm("body" plus "animate"plus "rational"equals
"man"); or the "sum"oftwotermsmaybe an affirmation
("man is a livingcreature"),
and thenthe "sum" of-the logicalinferencefrom-two such affirmations
is a third
("everyman is a livingcreature"plus "everylivingcreatureis a body"equals "every
man is a body"),and the "sum" of manysuch inferencesis a demonstration.'5Thus
Hobbes' theoryofdemonstration
is essentiallythetheoryofthe syllogism,
codifiedby
Aristotlelongbefore;but-perhaps because he despisedAristotle,
on othergrounds
-he advisedbeginnersto studythe methodnotin the treatisesoflogiciansbut in its
actualuse by mathematicians,
just as "littlechildrenlearnto go, notby precepts,but
by exercisingtheirfeet."'16
Now anyconclusionreachedby thisprocessmayseem merelyconditional-a mere
statementthat C holds if A and B are true. Indeed Hobbes himselfso asserted.
this"if... then"character,in
Scientificknowledge,he said, has just thisconditional,
contrast
to the"absolute"knowledgethatoursensesprovide.Andyet-crucially-the
conclusionsof scientificreasoningare (Hobbes repeatedlyinsisted)"eternal"and
"immutable"truths.'7For just as the axioms of Euclid's Elementswere, to the
Greeks,not mere assumptionsbut self-evidentstatementsof physicalfact,so for
in thesuretestimony
Hobbes all reasoningis anchoredultimately
ofthe senses.Right
reasoningis, precisely,thatwhich proceeds "fromprinciplesthatare foundindubitableby experience."Such principlesare (or can be made) self-evident
and can win
the agreementofanyman "thatwill but examinehis own mind."'8If only,he urged,
elementalconceptsand principleswere made sufficiently
clear, all men would see
are alreadypresent,
themalike; and thisis truebecause in factthese fundamentals
howeverobscurely,in all men's (essentiallysimilar)minds. Like Socrates-whose
famousillustration
of the techniquewas, significantly,
geometrical-Hobbes claimed
onlyto evokein his hearerswhattheyalreadyknew.'9
forpoliticalscience. But if all must
Hence the possibilityof a rationalfoundation
and sureaxioms,fromtheunambiguousunderstanding
springfromprecisedefinitions
and use of basic concepts,how were these vitalstarting
pointsto be attained?Here
Hobbes placed himselfin the mainstreamof a methodologicaltraditionthat had
figuredcruciallyin Westernthoughtsince ancienttimes.It had two aspects-one a

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cardinaltechniqueof Greekmathematicians,
the othera similarstrategyin philosophy and science. In the mathematicaldevelopmentthatculminatedin Euclid, the
methodof"analysis"assumedthetnithofa conjecturedtheorem,or the achievement
of a desiredconstruction,
and triedto argue "backward"fromthis startingpointto
(respectively)a theoremalreadyprovedor a construction
alreadyeffected,
perhaps
ultimatelyto definitions
and axioms.Sometimes,of course,the chain of inference
ended in a contradiction,
whichexposed the originalassumptionas untenable.But
when,morecommonly,
the argumentreachedsome foundation
alreadyestablishedor
assumed,then a reversalof its steps, called "synthesis",supplied forthe desired
theoremor construction
a rigorousproof.Analysiswas thus a tool for discovering
proofsof thingsalreadysuspected(or at anyratehoped for).The "synthetic"
halfof
the double procedurecame to serve as the classic formfor expoundinga unified
systemofmathematics
fromfirst
principles,themostfamiliar
examplebeingofcourse
the Elements.The definitivediscussionofthewholetechniquewas givenby Pappus
in the fourthcenturyA.D."' Meanwhilea philosophicalmethodology
withstrongties
to the mathematicians'
analysisand synthesishad been articulatedby one of the
giantsof Greek thought.Plausibly,thoughnot certainly,takinghis cue fromthe
geometers,Aristotlesaw an analogous double procedureas the path to all truly
scientificknowledge.Such knowledge,he declared,is of causes: we attainit only
of the necessaryconnectionsbetweennatural
whenwe give rigorousdemonstrations
occurrencesand the hiddenprinciplesthatengenderthem.Our immediateexperimassofsense impressions;
ence is ofa bewildering
thesewe mustdissectand analyze
in thought,
seekingto reducecomplexphenomenato theirsimpleconstituents,
to see
the universaland essentialin the particularand accidental,finallyto identifythe
elementaryfactorswhichproduce and explainour observations.This movementof
forAristotleand forthe traditionthathe here founded,to the
thoughtcorresponded,
passage in geometricalanalysisfromthe uncertainlyconjecturedto the definitely
known.And similarlythe geometers'syntheticproof,which reversedthe steps of
scienceby
analysisand deduced theoremsfromaxioms,was paralleledin Aristotelian
of necessarycausal connectionsbetweensimple
rigorous(syllogistic)demonstrations
theoreticalprinciplesand the complexeffectsthatwe experience.2'The influenceof
sense-in Latin
theseideas was enormous.Analysisand synthesisin thisAristotelian
translation
as resolutioand compositio,respectively-entereda hundredmedieval
and Renaissance tractson philosophicaland scientificmethod.The legacy was
of Padua,22and here Harveystudiedand Galileo
especiallystrongat the University
taught,bothof themseminalinfluenceson Hobbes. Galileo,and afterhim Newton,
would make historyby abandoningthe Aristoteliansearch for causes; for them
and expressingmathematically,
analysisaimed ratherat establishingexperimentally,
fundamental
relationsamongthe variablesinvolvedin a physicalphenomenon,and
deduction-Galileo's s a t2 forfreefallplaysjust
castingtheseas axiomsforfurther
this role in his 'thought.But otherwisethese leaders of the ScientificRevolution
preservedmuchof the logic,and the psychologicalbasis, of the durableAristotelian
scheme.23
For his partHobbes laid it downthatall properphilosophymustuse "resolution"
or a mixtureofthe two.24He appliedthe methodhimselfat several
or "composition"
became an "analysis"of
different
levels of inquiry.The searchforclear definitions
familiar,
specificterms(e.g., "gold") intoconstituent
conceptsof greateruniversality,
dissectedin theirturn.The
like "heavy,""visible,""solid,"whichmightbe further
process was conceived as a passage fromthingsknown to our senses to things
apprehendedby reason,fromthings"moreknownto us" to things"moreknownto
nature"-distinctions voiced already by Aristotleand repeated constantlyin the

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VOL. 63, NO. 3, JUNE 1990

151

ensuing centuries.25In physics,accordingto Hobbes, "analysis" lays bare the

respectivecontributions
of individualfactors,while "synthesis"explainshow these
join in the totaleffect.He offered,
as an example,an accountof our perceptionof
light.Here (he said) we mayisolate,as constituent
elements,the motionsofparticles
in some luminousobject,the transmission
of those motionsthroughan intervening
medium,finallythereceptionofthemotionsby the "fitting
disposition"ofourbodily
organs; these, taken together,are then seen to forma necessaryand sufficient
26
explanation.
But Hobbes' mostambitiousapplicationofthisancienttwofoldpathto knowledge
amountedessentiallyto the programof his whole life's work.For resolutionand
composition,he declared,were the keys to his ultimategoal, the elucidationof
fundamental
principlesof politicalorganizationand justice. The affairsof men in
societyhe would reduce,by "analysis",to the passions of individualpeople-and
In the firsthalf
thesein turnto the motionsofthoseindividuals'physicalparticles.27
ofthisprogramhe againtooka clue fromthe mathematicians
and physicists.
For just
as Euclid's pointsand lines are abstractions,
whichphysicalincarnation
on paper or
and as Galileo idealizedthemotionsofobjectsby
blackboardcannotreallyrepresent,
and air resistance,so Hobbes soughtto analyzehuman
neglectingfactorslike friction
behaviourin a hypothetical
earlycollectionof unorganizedindividuals.(The famous
descriptionof primitivelifeas "solitary,poore,nasty,brutishand short"28refersto
this imaginedscenario,not to historyas actuallyrecorded.)The second halfof his
grand design, the reductionof human mental states to the motionsof material
particles,may seem drastic(or even preposterous,
accordingto taste);but in factit
reflectsone of Hobbes' deepest convictions,that in such motionsis the ultimate
explanationof all things.And here again our philosophermerelyshared a leading
preoccupationof his age. The ancientdoctrineof atomism,thatpicturedmatteras
composedof invisible,indivisibleparticlesmovingin a void,had been revivedand
modernizedby variousRenaissancethinkers(notablyPierreGassendi,1592-1655).
Mathematically
treatableas pointmasses,these corpusclesoffereda fruitftil
conceptual foundationforthe ScientificRevolution-and to some extremistsa sufficient
basis forall philosophy.
To Hobbes theirmotionservedto accountforall desire,will,
love and hatred,all psychologicaland spiritualphenomenaof whateversort; he
shocked his readers by refusingto conceive even God as wholly immaterial.29
elaborationof the corpuscularphilosophyawaited Newton's
Rigorousmathematical
Principia(1687); it was of course farbeyondHobbes' powers.Yet he had no doubt
how,in theory,the descriptionofthosemovingatomsshouldproceed:by application
ofgeometry.
"Natureworketh
by Motion;theWayes,and Degrees whereofcannotbe
known,withoutthe knowledgeof the Proportionsand Propertiesof Lines, and
Figures."30Throughsuch knowledge,then,we understandthe motionsof material
particles,whichcause and explainindividuals'thoughtsand actions,and thesein tuirn
are the sourceofpoliticalattitudesand institutions.
So-to summarize-geometry
is
centralto the greatphilosopher'sthoughtin twoquite distinctways:as methodological guide and example,and as the mostbasic of all branchesof knowledge,from
which"synthesis"mightdeduce, step by step,the immutablelaws of social justice.
Now it is well knownthatEuclid's geometry,
so important
as a modelforHobbes,
is wholly synthetic-a steady deductive passage fromsimple to complex,from
and postulatesto deep theoremsand difficult
construcsupposedlyevidentdefinitions
tions.Of the preliminary
"analysis,"the possiblylaboriouselucidationof the basic
no hintremains;the
concepts,the discoveriesof the proofsand the constructions,
dustoftheworkshophas been clearedaway.Andso withHobbes. He too proposedto
from
expound his ideas only in the "synthetical"order of their demonstration

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MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

"primary" propositions "manifest of themselves," omitting the earlier discovery of

those propositions from "the sense of things". He set out a program of sweeping
grandeur, that would pass from "universal definitions" to a geometrical account of
simple motion, then to the "internal passions" of men, finally to "civil philosophy;
which takes up the last place".3" He planned treatises expounding each of these levels
in turn, the higher to depend and build on the lower as the later books of Euclid on
the earlier.32
Such, at least, was the theory and the intent. But external events deflected the tidy
execution of the scheme. The factional conflicts around him provoked Hobbes to a

political statement(De cive, 1642) that preceded any expositionof its supposed
underpinnings
in physics;"what was last in order",he admitted,"is yetcome forth
firstin time".3 But in fact,he now conceded,politicalscience can standalone, "its
own principlessufficiently
knownby experience."Those who "have notlearnedthe
firstpartof philosophy,
namely,geometryand physics,may,notwithstanding,
attain
theprinciplesofcivilphilosophy,
by the analyticalmethod"-and he wenton to give
an exampleof an axiom thus reachable,thatthe appetitesand passionsof men, if
Moreoverthissuddenlygrantedindepenunchecked,makeconstantwar inevitable.34
dence of politicaltheoryfromphysicstookelsewhereanother,and moresurprising,
twist.Hobbes claimed that civil philosophymay attainthe kind of certaintythat
mathematics
enjoys-whereas physicsmaynot.For,he explained,trueknowledgeis
of the causes of things,and in studyingnaturewe can say onlythatour conjectured
causes may-never that they must-produce the effectsthat we observe; but in
of (say) a circle,because
geometrywe understandfullythe cause, the "generation,"
we drawit by a knownprocedure,and likewisewe can graspthe laws and principles
of civil societypreciselybecause it is we who framethem.35Thus it seems thatfor
Hobbes mathematics
and politicalscience are in principleequally accessible to the
of
he seems neverto considerthatthe complexitiesand perversities
understanding;
human beings may make them less scrutablethan points and lines. If (as he
repeatedlyinsisted36),advances towarda rationalpoliticshad in his time lagged
the cause was notintellecscandalouslybehindthespectacularprogressofgeometry,
tual but moral.The studyof men and statesis clouded by passionswhichgeometry
does notarouse:
The doctrineof Rightand Wrong,is perpetuallydisputed,bothby the Pen and
the Sword:Whereasthe doctrineof Lines, and Figures,is not so; because men
care not,in thatsubjectwhatbe truth,as a thingthatcrossesno mansambition,
or lust. For I doubtnot,but if it had been a thingcontrary
to any mans
profit,
rightof dominion,or to the interestof men thathave dominion,Thatthe three
Anglesof a Triangleshouldbe equall to two Anglesof a Square; thatdoctrine
shouldhave been, ifnot disputed,yetby the burningof all booksof Geometry,
suppressed,as farreas he whomit concernedwas able.37
Fromthisperspectiveone goal of a politicsbased on rightreasonwas the findingof
firstprinciplesso secure, and hence so worthyof trust,thatno such self-interest
would seek to "displace"them.38
thatmakehis greatestbook
We need notfollowhis philosophyintotheelaborations
more
a leviathanin volumeas in name. Sometimesfromhis materialistic
psychology,
oftenfromobservationof the worldaroundhim,he drewthe "axioms"on whichall
wouldbe made to rest:thatall men are movedby "appetitesand aversions",thatall
thateveryman'spowerresistsand hindersothers'... . From
seek powercontinually,
these in turncame his specificproposalsforcivil order-for examplea passionate
preferencefor monarchyto democracy,a strictlimitingof propertyrights,an

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VOL. 63, NO. 3, JUNE 1990

153

unequivocalsubordination
of churchto state. Many of his conclusionsmet bitter
hostility
in his time,and can stillraise eyebrowsin ours-like his call fora sovereign
authorityof (many would say) disturbingly
absolute powers.* But his method,as
praise.He recordedwith
opposedto his particulardoctrines,
won somecontemporary
pardonablepridethata shortsummary
ofhis De cive,publishedin France,bore the
title EthicsDemonstrated;
the translator,
a certainFrancoisBonneau,assuredLouis
XIV that the only two "demonstrative
sciences" were this work of Hobbes and
Euclid's Elements.40
More strikingly,
mostof Hobbes' fiercestopponentsadoptedhis
rationalmethodseven as theyassailedhis ideas.4' Partly(not,ofcourse,wholly)from
Hobbes' example,the goals of deductiveargumentand logical exactnessspread to
everycornerofEurope'smentallife,so bringingthe"Age ofReason"to birth.
Viewed in thewaythatmostconcernsus here,as an imitation
ofmathematical
and
scientific
Hobbes' systemhas weaknessesthatleap readilyenoughto the
forerunners,
was misguided,as a
eye. For examplehis exclusiveemphasison syllogistic
arguments
wider knowledgeof his models could have told him; alreadyin antiquitythe Stoic
logicianshad seen thatthese Aristotelian
patternsdo not fullymirrormathematical
science.
reasoning,and Galileo feltdeeplytheirinadequacyforthenew experimental
with the
But the problemswith Hobbes' edificebegin at the very foundations,
postulateson which all rests.Like Euclid he has been detectedusing undeclared
the axiomswhichdo appear explicitlyare, as we
More importantly,
assumptions.42
have seen, just the kindof inductivegeneralizations
fromexperiencethatthe great
philosopherhad expresslysoughtto discredit.Inevitablytheybetraythe historical
ofthemanwho framedthem,so thatHobbes,
context,and thepersonalobservations,
can be suspectedof
like someothertheorists
(Freud is theclassiccase in psychology),
mistakinglimitedlocal perceptionsforglobal truths;indeed some of his postulates,
are demonstrably
false.43In shorthis assumptionsare
seen fromlargerperspectives,
as he fondlysupposed,and his trustin theiruniversal
not remotelyso self-evident
acceptance seems a gross delusion. Some experienceof the cut and thrustand
compromiseof practicalpoliticsmighthave temperedhis sureness;so argued his
the Earl of Clarendon,sometimeChancellor to Charles II, who
contemporary
suggestedurbanelythat a stintin Parliamentor the courtsprobablywould have
how deep soever,and his tooperemptory
shownHobbes that"his solitarycogitations,
and
even Rules of Geometry,have misled
to
some
adhering
PhilosophicalNotions,
of Policy."44Altogether,
it is temptingly
him in the investigation
easy to dismiss
Hobbes' whole endeavouras hopelesslynaive,thisdreamthatreasonablemen could
withthe clarityand consensusof geometersporing
be broughtto see humanaffairs
overa proof.But it is fairer,and in historicaltermsmorecorrect,to see his systemas
belief that the extensionof scientific
an early expressionof the Enlightenment
toleranceand
methodsand ideals to social problemswould fosterunderstanding,
at theexpenseoferror,prejudiceand strife.In the daysof Leviathan,when
harmony
the ScientificRevolutionitselfwas stillso new, no one could yet say how valid that
shouldhonorThomasHobbes, who came late in
beliefmightprove.Mathematicians
lifeto theirsubject,and understoodit poorly,but loved it much,and stakedon the
of
supposed surenessof its methodshis hopes forthe peace and good government
mankind.

*"A geometer'spanacea forpeace," saysa (sympathetic)

biographer.39

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Notes
Referencesto Hobbes' wr-itings
give volumeand page numbersof The EnglishWorksof ThomasHobbes,
ed. W. Molesworth.For convenienceI give also,whereappropriate,
page numbersof thewidelyavailable
Penguineditionof Leviathan,ed. C. B. Macpherson(abbreviatedas "Lev").
Cf. Macpher-son,
op. cit.,p. 15; RichardPeters,Hobbes (Penguin,1956),pp. 26, 28, 47.
Quoted in Peters,p. 27.
I, viii.
JohnAubrey,BriefLives,ed. 0. L. Dick (AnnArbor,1962), p. 158.
Ibid.,p. 150; italicsin or-iginal.
I, 26, 96, 141.
VII, 248; cf.VII, 316.
can be foundin J. F.
VII, 3; I, 288. A good accountof Hobbes' venturesintotechnicalmathematics
WorkofJohnWallis (London,1938).
Scott,The Mathematical
9. IV, 18.
10. II, iii; III, 379 = Lev. p. 426.
11. III, 23-4 = Lev. p. 105.
12. I, viii-ix.
13. III, 380 = Lev. p. 428.
14. I, 81; I, viii; III, 36 = Lev. p. 116; IV, 23, etc.
15. I, 44ff;cf.III, 29-30 = Lev. p. 110.
16. I, 54-5.
17. III, 52 = Lev. p. 131; III, 71 = Lev. pp. 147-8; II, 44-6; VI, 122; III, 664= Lev. p. 682.
18. IV, 24; I, 84; I, 74.
19. II, xiv,295; IV, 212; I, 304; IV, 1-2, 27; cf.Plato,Meno 81ff.
20. The best accountof thismethodand its histoiyis J. Hintikkaand U. Remes,The methodofAnalysis:
Its GeometricalOriginand its General Significance
(D. Reidel, 1974); see pp. 8-10 forthe passage
fromPappus.(These authors,however,do notmentionHobbes.)
21. Aristotle,
PosteriorAnalytics,passim;cf. Physics184a17-20 and NichomacheanEthics 1112b20ff.
22. See the classic paper by J. H. Randall,"The Developmentof ScientificMethod in the School of
Padua", in his The Schoolof Padua and the Emergenceof ModernScience (Padua, 1961), pp. 13-68.
23. Galileo, Dialogue Concerning
the Two ChiefWorldSystems,tr.S. Drake (Berkeleyand Los Angeles,
to Newton's
1970), p. 51; Newton,Opticks,Q. 30 (Dover ed. pp. 404-5); I. B. Cohen, Introduction
'Principia'(Cambridge,Mass., 1971), pp. 294-5.
24. I, 66, 309-10.
25. I, 69, 67; cf.Aristotle,
Physics184al7-20.
26. I, 75-9.
27. See the notice"To the Reader",by one "F. B.", at the beginningofVol. IV of the EnglishWorks.
28. III, 113 = Lev. p. 186.
29. III, 672 = Lev. p. 689.
30. III, 669 = Lev. p. 686.
31. I, 80-1, 87.
32. "To the Reader"(see n. 27 above).
33. II, xx.
34. I, 74; italicsin original.
35. VII, 184.
36. II, iv; IV, ep. ded.
37. III, 91 = Lev. p. 166; cf.IV, ep. ded.
38. IV, ep. ded.
39. Peters,p. 33.
40. VII, 333; A. Rogow,ThomasHobbes (New Yorkand London,1986), p. 145.
41. S. I. Mintz,The HuntingofLeviathan(Cambridge,1970),pp. viii,83, 149-51.
42. E.g., Macpherson,p. 30.
43. J. W. N. Watkins,Hobbes' Systemof Ideas (London, 1965), pp. 166ff,draws on Sir JamesFrazer's
famousThe GoldenBoughto rebutHobbes' axiomthatall men fearand shunviolentdeath.
44. Quoted in J. Bowle, Hobbes and his Critics(London, 1969),p. 152.
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