Birth:
April 5, 1588, Wiltshire, England
Death:
December 4, 1679, Derbyshire, England
Early Influences:
- Father was a vicar
- Grew up in a well-off family
Education:
- Uncle provided for early education
- Enrolled in Oxford by the age 15
- Traveled to mainland Europe in 1610 learning languages
- Studied Euclid during a stay in France from 1629-1631 and became interested in mathematics
- Was influenced by Galileo and Descartes
Major Accomplishments:
- Wrote The Elements of Law Natural and Politic (1640)
- Wrote Leviathan (1651)
- Wrote Questions Concerning Liberty, Necessity, and Chance
Significance:
- Devised the idea of the 'Social Contract' whereby people give away their power to the government in exchange for protection
- Argued for the absolutism of monarchs because once the people had entered the 'Social Contract' they could not break it
- His ideas influenced later thinkers such as John Locke
Contemporaries:
