In this episode, we explore the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)—the man who gave us the Leviathan, the social contract, and one of the most pessimistic yet influential visions of human nature in Western philosophy. It was a time of civil war, regicide, and political upheaval. It was a time when the old certainties of divine right and religious authority were crumbling. And it was a time when one man dared to ask: What is the rational basis for society?

We begin with the Age of Absolutism—the period that birthed the modern state system and the concept of the balance of power. We trace the intellectual climate of the 16th and 17th centuries, a time of transition between medieval knowledge and the new science. And we examine Hobbes's radical departure from Aristotle, his rejection of the idea that man is a "social animal," and his chil ...