Abstract

This chapter focuses on Thomas Hobbes’ theory of natural law. Fundamental to this is his conception of ‘nature’, which was very different from the Aristotelian and scholastic conceptions evidenced in Calvin, Hooker and Althusius. This means Hobbes deviated from the earlier natural law theories propounded by Reformed thinkers. In Hobbes’s political writings, natural law became focused on the protection and promotion of pre-political natural rights. These rights are threatened by the radical anti-sociability of humanity, and therefore humans must establish a political society to protect those rights. The central intention of political society is, for Hobbes, the protection of natural rights that are perpetually under threat because of human nature and its natural propensity towards social discord. With Hobbes, natural law becomes anthropocentric and politics becomes secularised.

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