ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Thomas Hobbes’ thought with the express intention of decentering the contemporary interest in politics above all. By insisting that Hobbes was understood differently in his day than we understand him in our own, it highlights the significance of a host of anthropological issues that the modern political perspective overlooks. In short, it claims that politics’ rise was made possible by other, profounder intellectual changes. Among other thinkers considered are Edward Herbert, Baron of Cherbury (1583–1648), Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), and Samuel Pufendorf (1632–1694).
