Taming the Leviathan

Abstract

Thomas Hobbes is widely acknowledged as the most important political philosopher to have written in English. Originally published in 2007, Taming the Leviathan is a wide-ranging study of the English reception of Hobbes's ideas. In the first book-length treatment of the topic for over forty years, Jon Parkin follows the fate of Hobbes's texts (particularly Leviathan) and the development of his controversial reputation during the seventeenth century, revealing the stakes in the critical discussion of the philosopher and his ideas. Revising the traditional view that Hobbes was simply rejected by his contemporaries, Parkin demonstrates that Hobbes's work was too useful for them to ignore, but too radical to leave unchallenged. His texts therefore had to be controlled, their lessons absorbed and their author discredited. In other words the Leviathan had to be tamed. Taming the Leviathan significantly revised our understanding of the role of Hobbes and Hobbism in seventeenth-century England.

Between Hobbes and Locke

“…57 Hence, natural sociability ensured that from the earliest age humans were subject to patriarchal government and never actually entered the Hobbesian state of war. 58 Like Bramhall, 59 Parker believed that Hobbes's view of natural law "enervated their force and usefulness, by resolving the reason of their obligation into self-interest." 60 In its place, Parker used the view of human nature, outlined in his early works, to resurrect the Scholastic idea of natural law.…”

Sir Robert Howard, Thomas Hobbes, and the fall of Clarendon

“…Jon Parkin has emphasized how this re-appropriation "allowed readers to see exactly how flexible Hobbes' theoretical defence of sovereignty could be." 35 In the same month, Marchamont Nedham, another ex-royalist, cited Hobbes in his defence of the Republic, The Case of the Commonwealth of England, Stated. 36 Gondibert is explicitly addressed towards the aristocracy in their traditional social role as military commanders and enforcers of the law.…”

“…This aspect of Hobbes' past remained controversial in the Restoration, and Leviathan was frequently identified with Cromwellianism. 24 The second point I want to emphasize about reading Hobbes in the Restoration is that, within the genre of poetry, Hobbesian theory was often refracted through Sir William Davenant's unfinished epic Gondibert (1651). Gondibert was preceded by a long Preface addressed to Hobbes, and Hobbes' friendly Answer.…”

The Paradoxical Hobbes

“…Therefore natural law, like the word of god, obliges only by the power of the magistrate. 33 This paradox was not lost on Hobbes's commentators, including Bishop Bramhall, causing him to expostulate: "god help us! Into what times are we fallen!…”