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members of an organized society, can be kept from relapsing into a state of nature. A sovereign power is necessary for peace, and the sovereign power must be sovereign. It must be the measure of all things necessary for the "procuration of the safety of the people."
Another point to be considered in an attempt to properly understand the practical philosophy of Hobbes is its relation to preceding and contemporary thought. Concerning the former, there is comparatively little to be said. Hobbes was not an erudite man. He was wont to say that had he read as much as others he would be as ignorant as they. Still, he was more or less acquainted with the works of some of his predecessors in these departments of thought. This is undoubtedly true with reference to Aristotle. He was acquainted with both the Ethics and Politics of the Greek philosopher, and had no respect for either. He criticises some of the positions taken by Aristotle in the Politics.[1] It is quite probable also that he was familiar with the views of Bodin, as expressed in his somewhat famous work entitled Six Livres de la République, and was to a certain extent influenced by them.[2] Concerning his relation to contemporary thought, it may be said, that the age of Hobbes was signalized by a decided revolt against scholasticism, and especially against the scholastic conceptions and methods of studying nature. The philosophy of nature which had long prevailed was dominated by the conceptions of Aristotle. Physical phenomena were explained from the standpoint of final causes. Against this method of dealing with nature the new philosophy set itself. It pursued a different course. The scientific mind had begun to appreciate the value of mathematics for the explanation of physical phenomena. As a result, mechan-