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... Hobbes’s premise in Book I states, "I put for a generall inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restlesse desire for Power after power, that ceaseth onely in Death." But against this continual appetite for power, Hobbes juxtaposes fear. ... Hobbes declares that his philosophy will demonstrate the surest way of achieving peace. ...
In Chapter XII of Leviathan, Hobbes writes: reason dictates that the universe was first set in motion by a Prime Mover. ... This quality Hobbes calls curiosity about the causes of the events man sees. ... " But, says Hobbes, there is a limit to what man can know about this chain of events, because his experience is limited. ... "For being assured that there be causes of all things that have arrived hitherto, or shall arrive hereafter," says Hobbes, "it is impossible for a man . ... Hobbes argues that fear stems from ignorance of causes, and that religions have been invented to posit causal forces in an effort to dispel fear; however, only philosophy can achieve this successfully. ... According to Hobbes, this sanctuary is provided, in the absence of true knowledge, in a belief in gods, i. ...
Hobbes denounces the Gentiles for creating gods “according to their own invention”, unlike the Christians who “have done it, by Gods commandement, and direction”. The Gentiles, writes Hobbes, wanted “only to keep the people in obedience…[and] imprint in their minds a beliefe, that these precepts which they gave concerning Religion, might not be thought to proceed from their own device, but from the dictates of God, or other Spirit; or else that they themselves were of a higher nature than mere mortals, that their Lawes might the more easily be received”.
Approximate Word count = 1176
Approximate Pages = 4.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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