duces, which we find to be superficies; and so forward, till we see 

 what the effects of simple motion are; and then, in like manner, we 

 are to observe what proceeds from the addition, multiplication, 

 subtraction and division of these motions and what effects, what 

 figures, and what properties they produce; from which kind of con- 

 templation sprung that part of philosophy which is called geom- 

 etry." 1 After the consideration of what results from simple motions, 

 science passes to consider the effects of one moving body upon 

 another, and, likewise, such effects as result from the motion of the 

 parts of any one body. These two latter investigations Hobbes 

 subsumes under the name physics. The internal movements of the 

 human body result in ensible qualities such as light, colour, sound, 

 odour, etc., but these are appearances only, and, in reality, are 

 motions. To quote Hobbes again, " whatsoever accidents or qual- 

 ties our senses make us think there be in the world, they be not 

 there, but are seeming and apparitions only: the things that really 

 are in the world without us are those motions by which these seem- 

 ings are caused." 2 After physics, comes civil and moral philosophy 

 wherein are considered the "motions of the mind ". 



The above outline of the general position of Thomas Hobbes 

 serves a double purpose. It reveals his conception of the scientific 

 method of his day, as well as showing the great m stake into which 

 Hobbes fell. The latter consisted in this: he was so nfluenced by 

 the developments in the special sciences as introduced to him by 

 Copernicus, Kepler and Galilei, and by the revolutionary work of 

 Harvey n physiology, that his own science and h s own philosophy 

 or world-theory are definitely constructed thereon. Hobbe was 

 right in taking cognizance of the wonderful results of the sc'ences, 

 but he was wrong in suggesting a world-theory wh ch was biassed 

 by those results to such an extent that other facts, just as important 

 and just as obvious, were by him denied or relegated to the realm of 

 appearance and illusion. And yet, as one criticises Hobbes' work, 

 he is still filled with admiration for the man who conceived such a 

 world-scheme and carried it out so fearlessly and consistently. 

 Hobbes supposed that "the first beginnings of knowledge are the phan- 

 tasms of sense and imagination . . . that there be such phan- 



^p. Cit. Ch. VI, Par. 6. 



2 Human Nature Ch. II, Par. 10. 



75 



