The Bible has enriched the English language in many ways. One example is the addition to the language of two words that denote large beasts: behemoth and leviathan. Both words also have developed extended meanings. Behemoth The source of behemoth is Job 40:15-24: “Behold now Behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as […]
Tag Archives: Thomas Hobbes
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men and Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman are a culmination of the Enlightenment thought on the natural rights of mankind, man’s place in society, and the Social Contract. Rousseau evaluated the works of Enlightenment philosophers before him like Thomas Hobbes […]
Thomas Hobbes wrote part of his flagship, Leviathan, in 1651, at the height of the English Civil War. The political upheaval of the time, coupled with the utmost faith in the inherent rationality of the Age of Reason, inspired Hobbes’s first philosophical political-contracts, based on politics, and advocated a strong Monarchy with central power. The […]
Initially, independence arose in the presence of philosophical inquiries into the “natural right” of man. The theory of ‘Natural Law’ came to fruition before Thomas Jefferson authored the “Declaration of Independence”. God’s creation of man is regarded by some as the beginning of man’s ‘Natural Law‘. Can none of us claim to know the point […]
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John Dewey was one of America’s major intellectual figures. The most comprehensive resource for Dewey scholars is the “Center for Dewey Studies” located at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, Illinois. Dewey was philosopher, social theorist, educator and public intellectual. His long life (1859 to 1952) allowed him to witness the United States evolution into […]
Many philosophers have formulated theories trying to reconcile the principles of civil society. They tend to emphasize the improvement of society and the maintenance of order as the main motivations for such a construction. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one such philosopher, as evidenced by his monumental effort The Social-contract and Discourse. Thomas Hobbes was another, as […]
Culture is a population’s collective beliefs that influence the behaviors of the members within that population. These beliefs include politics, religion, economics, philosophy, education and historical backgrounds. Because of this, the drafters of the Declaration of Independence were influenced by all of these. Because they were trying to break away from Britain, they were affected […]
In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published the book Leviathan or the Matter, Form, and Power of the Common Wealth of the Ecclesiastical and Civil. Leviathan, a Leviathan, a sea or dragon. in the Old Testament. In 1648, a few years before Hobbes published Leviathan, many of the major powers in Europe signed the Peace of Westphalia. […]