Philosophy Exam

How does Hobbes ' views on our senses influence his overall theory

It is no coincidence that the first part of Thomas Hobbes ' The Leviathan begins with a discussion of the senses - his views on how the human faculties of sight , smell , taste , hearing and feeling form the basis of his theories on humanity and society . Hobbes presents a departure from most of the prevalent beliefs on perception during his time

Thomas Hobbes lived during the 16th to 17th Century , where most of Europe has already undergone the Renaissance . The Renaissance was a

br rebirth of the culture in Europe , primarily through the re-discovery of the Classical Greek and Roman traditions . Hence , most of the philosophical scholarship during that time centered on the works of the great Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato

Hobbes departs from both philosphers in his view on the senses . Plato believed that the world we can perceive through our senses is a fallacy Our senses cannot be trusted and being base ' or low faculties--they should be discarded in favor of the faculty of the mind , which would lead to the world of ideas ' The world of ideas is the truth and everything else is irrelevant . Notice the schism between the idea and the senses according to Plato . Aristotle , like most students , countered his teacher Plato in his work , Poetics . He believes that the sensory world is the means by which one can achieve the truth . The world of ideas is not some far off place in the...