Hobbes and the Artifice of Eternity

Thomas Hobbes argues that the fear of violent death is the most reliable passion on which to found political society. His role in shaping the contemporary view of religion and honor in the West is pivotal, yet his ideas are famously riddled with contradictions. In this breakthrough study, McClure finds evidence that Hobbes' apparent inconsistencies are intentional, part of a sophisticated rhetorical strategy meant to make man more afraid of death than he naturally is. Hobbes subtly undermined two of the most powerful manifestations of man's desire for immortality: the religious belief in an afterlife and the secular desire for eternal fame through honor. McClure argues that Hobbes purposefully stirred up controversy, provoking his adversaries into attacking him and unwittingly spreading his message. This study will appeal to scholars of Hobbes, political theorists, historians of early modern political thought and anyone interested in the genesis of modern Western attitudes toward mortality.

• Provides the most coherent and persuasive argument yet about Hobbes' intention in sketching a theology that he knew to be dangerously heterodox and inflammatory to most Christians
• Challenges the prevailing orthodoxy that Hobbes was a rhetorical failure by proposing an original explanation for Hobbes' provocative rhetorical and sometimes contradictory strategy
• Argues that Hobbes wanted to reshape perceived notions of death and frighten his readers
• Gives readers a more complete and nuanced view of Hobbes' thought with the inclusion of his less studied works, De Corpore and Behemoth