Summary
Part I: Of Man
Hobbes explains sensation as motion caused by external bodies and imagination as the fading continuation of sense. Trains of thought may wander freely or be directed by desire and purpose.
Speech records thoughts and enables reasoning, agreement and social organisation. It also permits deception and absurdity when words lack stable definitions. Reason is calculation with names and consequences rather than direct access to immaterial essences.
Passions begin with appetite and aversion. Deliberation is the alternation of competing desires and fears until action occurs. Felicity consists in continued success, not final rest in a highest good.
Power is the present means to future apparent good. Human beings seek continuing power because future security is uncertain. Honour registers social recognition of power; manners concern qualities related to living together peacefully.
Religion arises from curiosity about causes, anxiety about the future and belief in invisible powers. Public religious doctrine varies with political authority and human interpretation.
In the state of nature, equality of vulnerability and hope produces competition, mistrust and concern for reputation. Without a common power, there is no dependable security, property or enforceable justice.
Natural right permits self-preserving action. Laws of nature direct people to seek peace, surrender reciprocal liberties and keep covenants. Other laws recommend gratitude, accommodation, pardon, impartiality and equitable judgement.
Covenants remain insecure without enforcement. The concept of a person and representation prepares the transition to political authority.
Part II: Of Commonwealth
A commonwealth is created when individuals covenant to authorise one person or assembly to act in their name. The multitude becomes one political person through a representative.
Sovereign rights include judging doctrine, making laws, deciding war and peace, appointing officials, administering justice and distributing honours. Hobbes argues that these powers cannot be divided without weakening the authority required for peace.
Commonwealths by institution may be monarchy, aristocracy or democracy. Hobbes prefers monarchy because public and private interest are more closely joined, counsel can be received privately and policy is less unstable.
Dominion can also arise by acquisition when submission is given from fear. Hobbes treats paternal and despotic rule through the same logic of consent motivated by preservation.
Liberty is absence of external impediment. Subjects are free where law does not prescribe conduct and retain the liberty to resist threats to life. Obligation lasts while sovereign protection remains effective.
The work examines subordinate organisations, public ministers, taxation, counsel and civil law. Law is an authorised command made sufficiently public; judges interpret it through the sovereign’s intention and principles of equity.
Crime involves violation of law with relevant intention. Hobbes distinguishes ignorance, fear, excuse and degrees of culpability. Punishment is harm imposed by public authority for prior transgression and future obedience.
Commonwealths weaken through defective institution, divided sovereignty, rival doctrines, unequal burdens and powerful factions. The sovereign’s office is to secure safety, which includes conditions for peaceful and productive living.
Part III: Of a Christian Commonwealth
Hobbes asks how revealed religion can be publicly known. Private claims of inspiration require testing, while scripture’s authority within a commonwealth depends upon authorised recognition.
He examines spirit, inspiration, prophecy, miracles, eternal life, salvation and the kingdom of God. Biblical language is repeatedly interpreted in material, political or non-metaphorical terms.
The historical kingdoms of God under Abraham, Moses, priests and kings are used to argue that religious and civil authority were not rival independent jurisdictions.
Christ’s offices are prophetic, priestly and royal, but his earthly mission did not establish a coercive church power separate from civil government. Ecclesiastical teachers advise and proclaim; coercive jurisdiction belongs to the sovereign.
The minimum necessary faith is expressed through belief that Jesus is the Christ, joined with obedience to law. Where outward profession is commanded, inward belief remains beyond human control.
Part IV: Of the Kingdom of Darkness
Spiritual darkness consists in doctrines that obscure truth and generate unauthorised power. Hobbes criticises misinterpretations of scripture concerning spirits, possession, hell, consecration and ecclesiastical status.
He attacks demonology and remnants of pagan belief that have entered Christian teaching. Fear of invisible agencies can be manipulated to sustain authority.
Scholastic philosophy is criticised for meaningless language, immaterial substances and institutional interests. Hobbes associates obscurity with university teaching derived from Aristotle and with clerical resistance to civil power.
The benefit of this darkness accrues to those claiming independent spiritual jurisdiction. Hobbes traces the growth and decline of Roman ecclesiastical power and warns that similar rival claims can reappear.
Review and Conclusion
Hobbes revisits the relation among reason, rhetoric, courage and civil duty. He discusses conquest, former obligation, protection and the conditions under which subjects may submit to a new power.
The conclusion defends the compatibility of his civil and religious claims and presents the work for public judgement in the aftermath of political conflict.