- Lived:
- 1588–1679 · born in Westport, near Malmesbury, England; died at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
- Tradition:
- English materialism; the founding giant of modern political philosophy
- The Big Idea:
- Everything that exists — stones, thoughts, states — is matter in motion; and because human beings without a common power over them fall into a war of all against all, we build an artificial "mortal god," the state, to keep the peace.
- In their words:
- "…continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
- If you remember one thing:
- The most famously fearful man in England built philosophy's most fearless system — a politics deduced from human nature alone, with no divine right and no natural masters, and a chilling price tag attached.