| − | '''Thomas Hobbes''' (1588-1679) was an [[English]] [[philosopher]], political theorist, historian, optical scientist, translator and classicist. Hobbes was notable as one of the founders of [[social contract]] theory, and a forerunner of [[British empiricism]]. As a [[materialism|materialist]], his concept of human existence excluded the [[soul]], with the [[mind]] being given a purely mechanical explanation. He was widely rumoured during his lifetime to be an atheist, which was illegal on 16th century England. | + | '''Thomas Hobbes''' (1588-1679) was an English [[philosopher]], political theorist, historian, optical scientist, translator and classicist. Hobbes was notable as one of the founders of [[social contract]] theory, and a forerunner of [[British empiricism]]. As a [[materialism|materialist]], his concept of human existence excluded the [[soul]], with the [[mind]] being given a purely mechanical explanation. He was widely rumoured during his lifetime to be an atheist, which was illegal on 16th century England. |
| | Hobbes saw matter in motion as the only reality. To him even consciousness and thought were but the byproducts of atoms moving in the brain.<ref>The New American Desk Encyclopedia, Penguin Group, 1989</ref> | | Hobbes saw matter in motion as the only reality. To him even consciousness and thought were but the byproducts of atoms moving in the brain.<ref>The New American Desk Encyclopedia, Penguin Group, 1989</ref> |