Life in 1648: Leviathan

 

Outline:

A. 1648 is a shift in mindset.

            1.  emergence of science and technology

            2.  new philosophy:  F. Bacon, R. Descartes

            3.  political experiments

            4.  secularization

B.  Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan.  “Every man ought to endeavor peace, as far as he has hopes of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek and use, all helps and advantages of war.”

C.  The absolutist state

D.  R. R. Palmer & Joel Colton:  Science in time provided Europe with new faith in itself.  The rise of science in the seventeenth century possibly saved European civilization from petering out in a long post-medieval afterglow, or from wandering off into diverse paths of a genial skepticism, ineffectual philosophizing, desultory magic or mad fear of the unknown.

E. The break-down of the medieval synthesis leads to the denial of objective truth.  Bacon seeks the modern synthesis