Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Content:

I. The Materialistic Doctrine of Hobbes
a. Preliminary outline: The universe is an aggregate of bodies, including: —
God, the First Mover
Finite spirits
Corporeal bodies recognized as such
Note : The commonwealth as civil body
b. The doctrine of Hobbes concerning the nature of bodies: They are: —
Independent of consciousness
spatial
c. The argument of Hobbes: —
Bodies (the non-conscious) are ultimately real, for consciousness is fundamentally unreal, since : —
Illusions and sense-images are indistinguishable
Ideas vary with the individuals who have them
Precisely similar ideas may arise from different causes
Consciousness, because caused by motion, is a form of motion

II. Critical Estimate of the Doctrine of Hobbes
The untrustworthiness of consciousness does not prove its unreality
The alleged fact that motion is cause of consciousness would not prove that consciousness is identical with motion
Hobbes’s conception of body is inconsistently idealistic
Materialists after Hobbes

#Philosophy