Hobbes Against the Fool

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes voices concern over the squandering of the‎ prospects of human prosperity. This paper argues that the remedy he proposes ‎is the political replication of scripture’s idea of creation; the acknowledgment ‎of an originator, a first cause of indisputable order. Hobbes’s nemesis, the ‎Fool, is an agent of scripture’s antithetical tohu and bohu (the disarray that‎ preceded creation), who misguidedly believes he can work disarray to his advantage. ‎For Hobbes this is folly, because the volatility of disarray is beyond human mastery. Nevertheless, steadfastness and prosperity remain at hand,‎ by replicating the order of a ‘higher power’ that is fortunately echoed in all‎ creation. This paper is made in the image of Hobbes’s ‘replication methodology’,‎ that in turn is modelled after scripture’s original depiction of the act of ‎creation “in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). The paper identifies the biblical‎ Nabal as the ‘original Fool’, and reflects on how the original resonates in ‎Hobbes’s iteration.‎