NAME: Thomas Hobbes ADRESS: Derbyshire, England Job/Objective: Although my exact title is difficult to express, one could reasonably call me an Author/ Freelance Political Philosopher. I have done some work in tutoring as well—see below. Qualifications/ Life Experiences: I have had a successful school career, have spent many years as a scholar and philosopher, have served as tutor to such distinguished personas as William, son of the earl William Cavendish, and to Prince Charles II, and have written numerous works of political science—see Summary of Major Works. I have also engaged in many thriving and heated debates over Geometry and Mathematics, although others claim that this is not my strong point. Education: My education is not important, and it never was important. If you really must know, I graduated from Oxford in 1608, after having a successful school career. I did not care much about the curriculum, and did not even agree with most of the trite and outdated opinions they taught. Probably the most major thing I took away from Oxford was my experience with the teachers, as well as the principal, John Wilkinson. Summary of Major Works: My first significant work was a translation of the Greek manuscript relating the events of the Peloponnesian War. Importance: In addition to being the first of it’s kind, the downfall of Greece demonstrated plainly how Democracy cannot survive. My second real significant body of works were a few minor pieces, called things like Human Nature and De Corpre Politico. Importance: In addition to setting the stage for my magnum opus, these pieces showed quite plainly that in no way were my opinions shaped by current events alone: some speculate that I was influenced by a civil war through England, but these came out before then, so this is obviously not the case. Third was De Cive. This book, another simple absolutist piece, came after the last few. Importance: these were well received, meaning people were beginning to see my point of view. Finally, with an importance fitting of it’s namesake, we have Leviathan: or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. Leviathan is the crowning glory of my work. It clearly, fully, and powerfully illustrates the deadly importance of an absolute ruler to uphold a Social Sontract, in which he is given absolute rule over the people, who agree to bow completely. The reason they must do this is that humans are stupid, weak, and horrifyingly base. They stand no chance of making it on their own. I would go so far as to say that their lives will be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” You join, or you wallow like the human worm you are and die in the cold like an animal. It’s your choice—choose well. Importance: Not only did this book really make people shut up, stand up and take notice of my work, it was so popular that I became incredibly famous and influential. Suddenly, Thomas Hobbes is a household name, which means more rulers drawing up the Contract and more households signing it. Now, like me or not, I’m here to stay. References: John Wallis, Mathmatician. If he is mad, he is not likely to be convinced by reason; on the other hand, if we be mad, we are in no position to attempt it. John Wilkinson, Principal of Oxford: He did not much care for logic, yet he learned it, and thought himself a good disputant. He took great delight there to go to the bookbinders' shops and lie gaping on maps. John Aubrey, my personal Biographer: He was 40 years old before he looked on geometry; which happened accidentally. Being in a gentleman's library, Euclid's Elements lay open, and "twas the 47 El. libri I" [Pythagoras' Theorem]. He read the proposition . "By God", sayd he, "this is impossible:" So he reads the demonstration of it, which referred him back to such a proposition; which proposition he read. That referred him back to another, which he also read. Et sic deinceps, that at last he was demonstratively convinced of that trueth. This made him in love with geometry.