The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Thomas Hobbes's Human Nature unfolds as the opening move in a grand philosophical system, one designed to build political understanding from first principles with the rigor of mathematics. Framed by a dedication that laments the disorder caused by passion and disagreement, the work promises a reasoned foundation for politics, justice, and peace. Hobbes begins with the human person, defining nature as the sum of bodily and mental powers, then tracing cognition, sense, imagination, memory, dreams, and the associative movement of thought. He argues that color, sound, smell, taste, and heat are not qualities in objects themselves, but effects produced within the perceiver by motion and alteration, exposing the senses as useful but deceptive guides. From this account of inward experience, the book turns to civil order: sovereigns must foster population, regulate marriage, secure property, distribute burdens fairly, and preserve liberty, trade, labor, and justice. Hobbes also warns against factions, rebellious doctrines, and wars driven by vanity. He closes by distinguishing covenant, counsel, and command as the basis for law and obligation.