The Online Library of Liberty

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• Preface
• The Philosophy of Hobbes an Essay, By W.g. Pogson Smith
• To My Most Honor’d Friend M R Francis Godolphin of Godolphin.
• The Introduction.
• Part I. Of Man .
• Chap. I .: of Sense .
• Chap. Ii .: of Imagination .
• Chap. Iii .: of the Consequence Or Trayne of Imaginations.
• Chap. Iv .: of Speech .
• Chap. V .: of Reason , and Science .
• Chap. Vi .: of the Interiour Beginnings of Voluntary Motions; Commonly Called the Passions . and the Speeches By Which They Are Expressed.
• Chap. Vii .: of the Ends, Or Resolutions of Discourse .
• Chap. Viii .: of the Vertues Commonly Called Intellectuall; and Their Contrary Defects .
• Chap. Ix .: of the Severall Subjects of Knowledge .
• Chap. X .: of Power , Worth , Dignity , Honour , and Worthinesse .
• Chap. Xi .: of the Difference of Manners .
• Chap. Xii .: of Religion .
• Chap. Xiii .: of the Naturall Condition of Mankind, As Concerning Their Felicity, and Misery.
• Chap. Xiv .: of the First and Second Naturall Lawes , and of Contracts .
• Chap. Xv .: of Other Lawes of Nature.
• Chap. Xvi .: of Persons, Authors , and Things Personated.
• Part II. Of Common-wealth .
• Chap. Xvii .: of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a Common - Wealth .
• Chap. Xviii .: of the Rights of Soveraignes By Institution.
• Chap. Xix .: of the Severall Kinds of Common-wealth By Institution, and of Succession to the Soveraigne Power.
• Chap. Xx .: of Dominion Paternall , and Despoticall .
• Chap. Xxi .: of the Liberty of Subjects.
• Chap. Xxii .: of Systemes Subject, Politicall, and Private.
• Chap. Xxiii .: of the Publique Ministers of Soveraign Power.
• Chap. Xxiv .: of the Nutrition , and Procreation of a Common-wealth.
• Chap. Xxv .: of Counsell .
• Chap. Xxvi .: of Civill Lawes .
• Xxvii .: of Crimes, Excuses , and Extenuations .
• Chap. Xxviii .: of Punishments , and Rewards .
• Chap. Xxix .: of Those Things That Weaken, Or Tend to the Dissolution of a Common-wealth.
• Xxx .: of the Office of the Soveraign Representative.
• Chap. Xxxi .: of the Kingdome of God By Nature .
• Part III. Of a Christian Common-wealth .
• Chap. Xxxii .: of the Principles of Christian Politiques .
• Chap. Xxxiii .: of the Number, Antiquity, Scope, Authority, and Interpreters of the Books of Holy Scripture .
• Chap. Xxxiv .: of the Signification of Spirit , Angel , and Inspiration In the Books of Holy Scripture.
• Chap. Xxxv .: of the Signification In Scripture of Kingdome of God , of Holy, Sacred , and Sacrament .
• Chap. Xxxvi .: of the Word of God , and of Prophets .
• Chap. Xxxvii .: of Miracles , and Their Use.
• Chap. Xxxviii .: of the Signification In Scripture of Eternall Life, Hell, Salvation, the World to Come , and Redemption .
• Chap. Xxxix .: of the Signification In Scripture of the Word Church .
• Chap. Xl .: of the Rights of the Kingdome of God, In Abraham, Moses, the High Priests, and the Kings of Judah.
• Chap. Xli .: of the Office of Our Blessed Saviour .
• Chap. Xlii .: of Power Ecclesiasticall .
• Chap. Xliii .: of What Is Necessary For a Mans Reception Into the Kingdome of Heaven.
• Part IV. Of the Kingdome of Darknesse .
• Chap. Xliv .: of Spirituall Darknesse From Misinterpretation of Scripture.
• Chap. Xlv .: of Dæmonology , and Other Reliques of the Religion of the Gentiles.
• Chap. Xlvi .: of Darknesse From Vain Philosophy , and Fabulous Traditions .
• Chap. Xlvii .: of the Benefit That Proceedeth From Such Darknesse, and to Whom It Accreweth.
• A Review , and Conclusion .

PREFACE

It was well known to all students of philosophy and history in Oxford, and to many others, that W. G. Pogson Smith had been for many years engaged in preparing for an exhaustive treatment of the place of Hobbes in the history of European thought, and that he had accumulated a great mass of materials towards this. These materials fill many notebooks, and are so carefully arranged and indexed that it is clear that with a few more months he would have been able to produce a work worthy of a very high place in philosophical literature. Unhappily the work that he could have done himself cannot be done by any one else unless he has given something like the same time and brings to the collection something like the same extensive and intimate knowledge of the philosophy of the period as Pogson Smith possessed. It is hoped indeed that, by the permission of his representatives, this great mass of material will be deposited in the Bodleian Library and made available for scholars, and that thus the task which he had undertaken may some time be carried out.

Among his papers has been found an essay which presents a very interesting and suggestive treatment of the position of Hobbes. The essay is undated, and it is quite uncertain for what audience it was prepared. It is this essay which is here published as an introduction to the Leviathan. It is printed with only the necessary verification of references, and one or two corrections of detail. It is always difficult to judge how far it is right to print work which the author himself has not revised, but we feel that, while something must inevitably be lost, the essay has so much real value that, even as it stands, it should be published. Something may even be gained for the reader in the fresh and unconstrained character of the paper. The pursuit of the ideal of a perfect and rounded criticism, which all serious scholars aim at, has sometimes the unfortunate result of depriving a man’s work of some spontaneity. In Oxford at any rate, and it is probably the case everywhere, many a scholar says his best things and expresses his most penetrating judgements in the least formal manner. Those who were Mr. Pogson Smith’s friends or pupils will find here much of the man himself—something of his quick insight, of his unconventional directness, of his broad but solid learning; something also of his profound feeling for truth, of his scorn of the pretentious, of his keen but kindly humour.