Hobbism

[ hob-iz-uhm ]

noun

1. the doctrines of, or those attributed to, Hobbes, especially the doctrine of absolute submission to a royal sovereign in order to avoid the anarchic disorder resulting from the uncontrolled competition of individual interests.

Hobbism

/ ˈhɒbɪzəm /

noun

1. the mechanistic political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, which stresses the necessity for a powerful sovereign to control human beings

Derived Forms

• ˈHobbist, noun

Other Words From

• Hobbist noun
• Hob·bisti·cal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Hobbism¹

First recorded in 1675–85; Hobb(es) + -ism

Example Sentences

“Hobbism” became a term of opprobrium, Leviathan was publicly burnt as a seditious document, and Hobbes himself spent many of his later years in fear for his life.

From The Guardian

No year had passed since the appearance of Leviathan without some indignant protest against the influence which its trenchant doctrine was calculated to produce upon minds longing above everything for civil repose; but after the Restoration “Hobbism” became a fashionable creed, which it was the duty of every lover of true morality and religion to denounce.

From Project Gutenberg

Hobbism turned inside out,—rendered licentious and anarchical instead of constructive.

From Project Gutenberg

It is not, however, in this, which is only the old Cyrenaic or Epicurean answer, that the distinctive point of Hobbism lies.

From Project Gutenberg

From an ethical point of view Hobbism divides itself naturally into two parts, which by Hobbes’s peculiar political doctrines are combined into a coherent whole, but are not otherwise necessarily connected.

From Project Gutenberg