The sun., 1904-08-21

God which are apparently essentia
to his argument, and which could hardly
be used by one to whom the words meant
nothing. It Ia certain that, In the lateI
years Of his life, Hobbies went pretty regu.
larry to the Earl OF Devonshire's chapel
though he would not go to the parish church
He did not care for sermons. They could
teach him nothing, he said, but what he
knew. II is an interesting fact that Hobbies
went with thu Calvinists to this extent
that he considered himself bound to ad-
nit the justice Of any actual existing ar
rangement. and. consequently. the justice
OF the eternal torments OF sinners, provided,
of course. such torments were really or
dained by the Almighty. He refused. how
ever, to admit the existence of hell Though
God may "affiict man, and not for Sin,
without injustice, shall we think Him SO
cruel as to afflict man, and not for sin
with extreme and endless torment? Is it
not cruelty? No more" he answers. than
to do the same for sin. when he that so doeth
might without trouble have kept the man
from shining He goes on to ask where
the Scriptures say that death is an end
less life. "Or do the doctors of theology
say it? Then, perhaps, they do but say
| selves" Elsewhere Ie observes; 1T
! seemeth hard to say that God, who is the
Father of mercies. that doth in heaven
| and earth all that He will, that hath the
| hearts Of all men in His disposing. that
worketh in men both to do and to will.
should punish mems transgressions with
out any end Of time, and with all the e1-
tremity of torture that men can imagine,
and more"
The greater part OF the volume before
us is devoted to an analysis Of Hobbes's
philosophical system. We must try to
give the purport Of a hundred and fifty
pages in a paragraph or two. 1t is, as
we have said in the treatise DE Corpore'
Concerning the Body that the funda-
mental principles are stated. They may
be summed up in the postulate that nothing
can exist which is not material, and there
fore, thought itself must be motion. We
must admit that man is simply an autom-
atom and yet that he can somehow think,
feel, reason and become philosopher.
The whole of Hobbess physical, psyche
logical and political speculations are based
on these assumptions. His physical specula-
tons have for us no interest. except as
specimens Of the guessing with which man
had to be content at the dawn Of science.
Hobbes's psychology Is expounded in
Human Nature" and the early chapters
OF 'Leviathan." Man, he notes. is body
with certain organs. Other bodies COM
ing into contact with the organs Of sense
propagate motion through the nerves,
the brain and the heart. The reactions
or -endeavors" set up in the central organs
generate the sensations or phantasms
which constitute the whole mental world.
All knowledge and thought correspond
to the action and reaction between the
living body and the bodies which impinge
upon it. knowledge is entirely constructed
from experience, or from the action set up
from outside. although the organized body
has the power OF reacting, and so generat- !
ing the phantasms which compose the |
imaginary" or mental world. The problem !
which Hobbies undertakes to solve in @Hu- |
man Nature" is how the mind or brain |
comes to systematic the varying play Of |
imagery and to acquire both general |
truths and rules which govern conduct. |
We may say at once that the invention
OF names. or language, is pronounced by /
him the indispensable prerequisite of sys-
recollection and reasoning. Pas .
sion IL defined by Hobbies as @the motion
about the heart" which is a consequence
of @the motion of the brain" that We call
Pleasure, he thought. as Spin
oza was to think, marks the heightenipg
and pain the lowering Of the vital energies
1t is we'll known that this doctrine has
been accepted in modified form by Her
bert Spencer and other modern thinkers.
That pleasure and pain must in some way
to heightened or lowered Vi
tali;y Is o doctrine, indeed, which in some
form or other seems inseparable from the
acceptance OF evolution.
Such being Eobbcss psychology, it was
Inevitable that he should view life as es-
sentially competition, though by him the
struggle for existence was regarded as only
Affecting the individual-not the species.
We reproduce the passage in Human
Nature" which concludes the authors
account of the passions. Life, he says,
nay be compared to a race-a race which
has no other goal or garland than
being foremost. He proceeds: an It to
endeavor is appetite; to be reniss is SEN
,uality: to consider those behind is plorp:
o consider those before is humility; to fall
IN the sudden Is disposition to peep; to see
mother fall is disposition to laugh; to see one
,utgone, whom we would not, is pity; to
zee one outgo. whom we would not, is in
iionafion; to hold fast by another is lore:
o carry him on that so holdeth is charity:
o hurt oneself for haste is shame; con-
inually to be out gone is misery; continually
o outgo the next before is felicity; and to |
orsake the course is to die"
1t is clear that from Hobbes's point OF |
Jew the abstract words good and evil
ould have no meaning. As man only
means John and Thomas and Peter, good
My means what John and Thomas and
'eter like. and evil what they dislike. The
psychologist must admit, however. that as
matter of fact certain moral code comes
lto existence conformity to which ia
egarded with approval by the average
nan. How this moral code comes to be
ormed and what is the nature Of it's au- :
hority are questions to which Hobbies ,
ddressed himself in his political treatises !
nd especially in "Leviathan.' We NAV
ondense the essence Of the work lust G
AIMED in a sentence: namely that, since