Hobbes’ place in the class syllabus is justified by his novel takes on questions of materialism. Hobbes is a rare for his time defender of materialism, and was in dialogue with both Descartes and Cavendish on this topic as an objector to Descarte’s Meditations and Cavendish’s tutor. The opportunity to further explore a materialist perspective, particularly one that was a progenitor of many subsequent materialist thoughts, while having access to direct responses between their arguments and those of dualists I believe to be of great value to broadening perspectives on the materialist/dualist debate.
While Hobbes’ role in the context of our class is best justified by his materialist positions, his position in the philosophical canon has been cemented through his political philosophy. Hobbes accomplished a total secularization of political philosophy and a basis to conceive of government dependent exclusively on individual preference – something that exists irrespective of our broader metaphysical beliefs. In setting forth such a conception of government, Hobbes provides the framework for subsequent discussion and analysis on the nature and role of government in a way that does not require us to agree upon our religious and metaphysical beliefs. While the specifics of Hobbes’ political philosophy – particularly the degree to which he endorses government absolutism – are worthy of skepticism, the broad strokes he painted of the role of government continue to shape our political philosophy to this day.