Quote Originally Posted by MMI View Post
Rip into that, Tom !
Hobbes theory is that the nature of man is to use their freedom to infringe upon others freedom if they can.

Hobbes didn't have any love for freedom. He thought man needs his freedom quashed by living under a dictatorship to have any peace. Just one for all humans would be best.

The Leviathan theory is basically any despot. And all the rulers he used as a template for the time, were all ten times worse than Adolf Hitler.

Hobbes is important because his philosophical ideas were the stepping stone for Locke and Hume. The parliamentary democracy we got in the west, was an update of Hobbes Leviathan. But I wouldn't say Hobbes thoughts on freedom have any place in the modern western world.

His biggest contribution to philosophy I'd say is that he thinks humans behave predictably, ie we don't have free will. I think he was the first philosopher to question whether man's will is free. Which was a huge step forward in creating a large number of institutions we all take for granted today, like mental health, legal courts and election processes.