John Bowie - Hobbes and His Critics: A Study in Seventeenth Century Constitutionalism

A Study in Seventeenth Century Constitutionalism

JOHN BOWLE

For the English always desired to be governed as men, not as Asses This is the quality of all understanding people of other nations.

The Reverend George Lawson An Examination of the Political Part of Mr. Hobbs his Leviathan, 1657.

This edition published by
FRANK CASS AND COMPANY LIMITED
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
First published by Jonathan Cape

Transferred to Digital Printing 2005

ISBN 0 7146 1548 X

As the pioneer of a utilitarian concept of government based upon a philosophy of radical scepticism, Hobbes is universally accorded a prominent place in the history of political thought. His fame is not merely academic: he is well known among all who are interested in political ideas. While the names of his opponents are forgotten, he still retains a prestige which would gratify though it would not surprise him.

Yet in spite of the considerable volume of Hobbesian studies, no systematic account has hitherto been taken of the political criticisms his work evoked from his contemporaries. Clarendons attack on him is fairly well known, if little read, the Reverend George Lawsons abilities as a forerunner of John Locke are beginning to be recognized, and the spirited onslaughts of Bishop Seth Ward and of Bishop Bramhall are familiar to students of the mid-seventeenth century; but Dr. Eachards knock-about dialogues and the indictment of the able barrister, John Whitehall, have fallen into undeserved neglect. This obscurity is shared by the pamphlet of Dr. Lucy, that rather dim Bishop of St. Davids, and by the work of the academic virtuoso, Alexander Rosse, whose memory survives mainly through a Byronic rhyme in Hudibras. These writers, with their striking metaphors and epigrammatic style, also provide a cross section of contemporary opinion. Some of them contributed directly to the development of the Whig political tradition of which Locke was to become the most famous exponent, and which was to exercise so deep an influence upon English and American political thought and institutions. In this context, along with an account of Lawson, some description of the ideas of Philip Hunton, another forerunner of Locke, has also been included.

Hobbes stands today as a contributor to an outlook which dominated nineteenth-century English political thought through the writings of Bentham and his followers, and through Austins definition of positive law; the novelty of his approach is apparent from the opposition he provoked among his contemporaries. His view of the State was fundamentally different from the old tradition of constitutional commonwealth, and for a full understanding of the Leviathan, an appreciation of Hobbes impact on his contemporaries is indispensable. Their criticism emphasizes Hobbes originality, making him stand out against his background.

But how far were these critics effective? Do they succeed in answering Hobbes? How far is a modern estimate of him modified by taking them into account? Or have they no more significance than the chatter of sparrows mobbing a hawk?

Their own age thought them formidable; so did the eighteenth century. All these writers believed in a divine and transcendental sanction for society. To them government was not a mere convenience, but the expression of a cosmic order. Hobbes was attempting to design a state independent of these sanctions. Whether this attempt is necessary, and whether it is practicable, is a question not yet decided. Even if the traditional view has to be abandoned, it is unlikely that any society can be successful without some belief more inspiring than a bleak utilitarianism. By their eloquence these critics call attention to the profound implications of Hobbes challenge, and by their unanimity, to the deep psychological need for a social mystique. They emphasize the inadequacy of a purely rationalistic social programme, the importance of the distinction between society and government, and the need to maintain a standard whereby state power can be judged.

On the immediate political level their contribution is also valuable. These writers were representative of seventeenth-century England. They were forerunners of Locke, with his world influence on the practice of constitutional government. They represented a tradition which had come down from antiquity and the Middle Ages, and which was to inspire the political organization of vast areas of the world. To them Hobbes seemed an unstatesmanlike writer. And original as was his insight, trenchant his genius as a political philosopher, it cannot be said that Hobbes was a practical politician. It was Whig constitutionalism and not Hobbes authoritarian state which determined the development of eighteenth-century England, with all its far reaching consequences. Here is further evidence for the origins of that outlook, confirming its debt to a medieval past.

There is also a third way in which these writers are of interest. They provide a fascinating example of the development of seventeenth-century English. They begin with the elaborate and baroque style of Rosse and develop through the cogent argument of Lawson and the hardhitting metaphors of Bramhall, into the Swiftian mockery of Eachard, the invective of Whitehall and the clear prose of Clarendon. They make good reading for those who enjoy the literature of the seventeenth century, as well as for those concerned mainly with political ideas.

The following study is based on a course of lectures delivered at Wadham College, Oxford, in the Michaelmas Terms of 1948 and 1949.

In the composition of this book I am deeply indebted to the late Mr. Humphrey Sumner, Warden of All Souls, for his criticism and encouragement, and I should like to thank Professor A. P. dEntrves and Mr. H. R. Trevor-Roper for their advice in its initial stages. I am also indebted to the Rev. R. E. S. Hinde, Fellow and Chaplain of Hertford College; to Mr. G. A. Webb, Sub-Librarian of the Codrington Library, for his unfailing courtesy and assistance, and to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for permission to quote from the works of Lord Clarendon.

JOHN BOWLE

Oxford
1950

O NE aspect of the political writings of Hobbes has been curiously neglected. While the implications of the De Cive and the Leviathan have been fully explored, and their effect on later political ideas often examined, the impression which this formidable and arrogant thinker made upon his contemporaries has been comparatively little appreciated. Yet there is much to be learnt from the impression a man makes on his own age. And since Hobbes was original, and outside the main stream of English political thought in the seventeenth century, there is much to be gathered also from the widespread re-assertion of accepted principles which his writings provoked.

For a full understanding of Hobbes it is necessary to realize the startling impression he made on his contemporaries. One can see how shocked they were by him; how strong their tradition was. Here, they insist, is a man who questions basic assumptions; a ruthless critic of immemorial institutions. As for his doubtful theological opinions, an aspect of his thought which loomed largest at the time, all the critics were unanimous that the