Tentative Response: Hobbes' Method

4. Is Hobbes’ theory based on observation, experiment, or (Platonic) dialectics? It is said to be one of the most unified, coherent theories about politics, and therefore aspiring to emulate the scientific models of the study of nature. Does it achieve that? 

Hobbes’ theory does seem to aspire to emulate the scientific models of the study of nature, as he holds fields of study like geometry in high esteem.  A geometrician “construct[s]...figures, findeth out many properties thereof; and from the properties, new ways of their construction, by reasoning; to the end...for infinite...uses” (442).  This model, which is similar to how Hobbes chooses to study politics and society, emphasizes the use of reason, which may be interpreted as observation.  Hobbes argues that “nothing is produced by reasoning aright but general, eternal, and immutable truth” (442).  Experience is not an adequate method for finding the truth, as even “brute beasts” (442) have the ability to acquire experience—experience must be combined with reason in order to reach the truth.  Trial and error, which Hobbes states that the “savages of America” live by, does not a philosopher make, as it implies a lack of “method” and “knowledge” (442).  Hobbes’ theory therefore is rooted fundamentally in observation, but also in reasoning, as mere observation is not philosophy.  In this way, some of his methods seem to overlap with Aristotle’s, whose theories were based on empirical observations rather than Platonic dialectics.  Hobbes’ theory successfully imitates the study of nature through a scientific model, as the use of reason to create a theory based on observations is the core of scientific study.