1. Thomas Hobbes ( )

2. The Problem of Knowledge
“That human actions take place is known by all; but all do not possess a scientific or philosophical knowledge of human actions.”

3. Political Philosophy
Hobbes’ painstaking analysis of the ways in which society can and should function opened up a whole new world of political science.

4. Market Values
We live in a market society and much of our worldview and values are based, consciously or unconsciously as may be, on market values.

5. Hobbes’ Method
“We can say that all voluntary actions are the result of deliberation, which is calculation of the chances that this or that action will gratify one’s appetites.”

6. Competition for Power
Since some people can never have enough, the only way they can get more and more is to take what is yours. To avoid that you must resist them and thus compete for power.

7. Natural Law
The Law of nature is not nature’s law but the Law of reason.

8. Summary
“Of the voluntary acts of every man, the object is some good to himself.”

9. Summary
Hobbes believed that the State, even with its necessary abuse of power, was better than the alternative-the horrors of anarchy in the “state of nature.”