41 Thomas Hobbes' Relationship with Francis Bacon

Thomas Hobbes' relationship with Francis Bacon - an introduction1

ROBIN BUNCE

Hobbes' work as Bacon's amanuensis is well documented.' According to John Aubrey, Hobbes took notes for Bacon, translated his Essays, and spent time con- versing with him.' This account is supported by the testimony of Samuel Sorbiere and Franqois du Verdus,4 and is usually taken to refer to the period in the 1620s, after Bacon's fall, during which Bacon completed the larger part of

' I owe many thanks to Simon Schaffer,Scott Mandelbrote,Alan Cromartie,Hannah Dawson, Brandon High, and Sami-JuhaniSavonius, of Cambridge University,Elena Sanders of Kent Universityand KatherineButler Brownof SOASfor commentingon early drafts of this paper. Vittoria Feola of Cambridge University and Eric Marquer of the Sorbonne also did me the great kindness of explaining the French of Samuel Sorbiere and Franyois du Verdus. I must also thank Alex Lindsey and Peter Fischer for preparing the Latin translationsthat appear in this paper. Finally, I am indebted to Quentin Skinner for his 1997 seminar series on Hobbes' Leviathan, and for pointing me in the direction of Noel Malcolm's De Dominis at an early stage in my research. 2 Samuel Sorbiere's Relation d'un voyage en Angleterre contains the first published account of Hobbes' time as Bacon's secretary. (Samuel Sorbiere,Relation d'un voyageen Angleterre, ou sont touchies plusieurs choses, qui regardent l'estat des sciences, & de la religion, & autres matieres curieuses (Paris, 1664)p. 97.) A partial English translationof the passage was published as part Thomas Sprat's commentaryon Sorbiere's text in 1665. (Thomas Sprat, A letter containing some observationson Monsieur de Sorbier voyage into England (London, 1665) pp. 232-4.) The classic statement of the relationship appeared in Aubrey's Brief lives, which was not published until 1898. (John Aubrey, 'Brief lives', chieflyof contemporaries,set down by John Aubrey,between the years 1669 & 1696, ed. A. Clark, (2 vols. Oxford, 1898) I, 331.) However, two other accounts, based directly or indirectly on Aubrey's manuscripts, were published prior to that. The first, Dr Richard Blackboume's Mac Hobbianae auctarium appeared in 1681. (Thomas Hobbes, ThomaeHobbes Angli Malmesburiensisphilosophi vita (London, 1681)pp. 21 ff.) The second, publishedin 1750, appeared in a collectionof Hobbes' works. (The moral and political works of ThomasHobbles of Malmesbury(London, 1750) p. xi.) Each version is discussedbelow. 3 Aubrey,'Brief lives', ed. Clark, I, 331. 4 Sorbièreand du Verdusboth made Hobbes' acquaintanceduring his exile in Paris during the 1640s. Both men were interested in the mechanisticphilosophy that was being developed by leading members of the circle around Marin Mersenneduring this period. Sorbiere,organised the printing of the second edition of Hobbes' De cive between 1646-7. Both men produced French translations of Hobbes' works and continued to correspond with Hobbes after he returned to London in 1650. Biographies of both men can be found in Noel Malcolm's edi-

41 his mature work.' Hobbes' interest in Bacon after the 1620s is less well known, but equally well documented. Hobbes' read, re-read and discussed Bacon and his works from the 1610s until the end of his life. The three explicit references to Bacon in Hobbes' works all refer to Bacon's natural philosophy. Nonetheless, Hobbes also read Bacon's historical writings and moral and civil philosophy, and looked to his old master as a stylist. Hobbes' work for Bacon is, as I have noted, well known. Consequently, the focus of this paper is Hobbes' ongoing interest in Bacon's works.

First I will present a brief summery of Hobbes' personal relationship with Bacon. Once this is done I will turn to Hobbes' knowledge of Bacon's works. Finally, I will address the school of thought, which originated with Thomas Sprat, postulating an antithetical relationship between the two thinkers. My object here is not to show that Hobbes followed Bacon, but rather to show that he was not his opponent. In order to do this I conclude the second section by examining Hobbes' attitudes to Galileo Galilei, William Harvey, Rene Descartes, and Johannes Kepler, and comparing these with his attitude to Bacon. I then discuss Hobbes' polemic against the Royal Society. i. Hobbes' knowledge of Bacon and his works. a. Amanuensis.

Setting aside speculation that Hobbes and Bacon met whilst Hobbes was a stu- dent at Magdalen Hall, Oxford,6 the first evidence of Hobbes' involvement with Bacon is linked to the activities of Hobbes' first pupil, Sir William Cavendish, tion of Hobbes' correspondence. See: Thomas Hobbes, The correspondence, ed. Noel Malcolm, (2 vols., Oxford, 1994), II, 893-899 and 904-913. Also see: Quentin Skinner, 'Thomas Hobbes and his disciples in France and England', Comparative studies in society and history, 8 (1966), 153-67. 5 See for examples: Samuel I. Mintz, The hunting of Leviathan (Cambridge, 1966) p. 6. Miriam M. Reik, The golden lands of Thomas Hobbes (Detroit, 1977) p. 33; Richard Tuck, Hobbes (Oxford, 1989)p. 10; and, Noel Malcolm, 'A summarybiography of Hobbes', in Tom Sorell ed., The Cambridge companion to Hobbes (Cambridge, 1996) p. 18. A.P. Martinich, ThomasHobbes (London, 1997) p. 6. 6 Robert E. Stillman, The new philosophy and universal languages in seventeenth-century England. Bacon, Hobbes and Wilkins(London, 1995) p. 138. Stillman attributes this speculation to Rogow, but I have been unable to find any mention of such a meeting. (Arnold A. Rogow, Thomas Hobbes: radical in the service of reaction (New York, 1986) pp. 65-66.) Hobbes gained his BA in 1608, some time before Bacon's mature works were written. Indeed, accordingto John Locke, who gained his MA at Oxford in 1658,even in the 1650s the works of Aristotle dominated the university curriculum. (Mordechai Feingold, 'The mathematical sciences and new philosophies', in Nicholas Tyacke ed., The history of the university of Oxford(8 vols., Oxford, 1984-1999),IV, 359.)