1. In Pt. I, ch. 5, Hobbes distinguishes prudence from sapience. What is the difference between these two sorts of knowledge and which does Hobbes think most important for an understanding of politics?

2. Hobbes discusses Numa in chapter 12. Machiavelli did as well. What is it about Numa that interests each of these theorists?

3. Hobbes discusses a state of nature where there is no government. What is this state of nature like?

4. Are there any laws in the state of nature? If so, who enforces them?

5. Why are people motivated to leave the state of nature?

6. Do people own or have a right to private property in the state of nature, according to Hobbes?

7. What motivates people to adhere to rather than to violate the “covenant of peace” that they make in leaving the state of nature and forming a commonwealth?

8. How does Hobbes define justice, and how is his different from Plato’s definition?

9. How would Hobbes answer Glaucon’s question in the Republic about whether it is better to be just while appearing unjust, or to be unjust while appearing just? (Look at ch. 15)

10. Who gets to be the sovereign? In other words, how is the sovereign chosen? What makes someone deserving of being sovereign? (One relevant passage is the discussion of William the Conqueror in the ‘Review and Conclusion’, but there are others)

11. Is it ever justified, on Hobbes’ view, to disobey the sovereign? Is there any room in Hobbes’ theory for conscientious objectors (people who refuse to obey the law on the basis of their conscience)? If the sovereign enacts a bad law, or punishes the innocent, or violates the laws of nature, is rebellion justified? (One relevant passage is in ch. 21; but there are others)

12. Hobbes discusses punishment both in ch. 15 (the seventh law of nature), and in chapters 27-28. On his view, for what reason do we punish people?

13. Hobbes writes that “The laws of nature are immutable and eternal; for injustice, ingratitude, arrogance, pride, iniquity, acception of persons, and the rest, can never be made lawful. For it can never be that war shall preserve life, and peace destroy it”(ch. 15, p. 123). Explain the logic of this passage: why does the fact that war cannot preserve life lead to the conclusion that the laws of nature are immutable? And do you agree that there are immutable and eternal laws of nature?

14. Hobbes argues that we consent to live under the rule of a sovereign (be it a single man, or an assembly). But what if someone votes against the person or assembly, and would have preferred another ruler–must that person obey the sovereign? (See ch. 18)

15. Hobbes insists that the sovereign is not a party to the covenant. Why does he insist on this?

16. Hobbes writes that the sovereign power “may commit iniquity’ but not injustice, or injury in the proper signification”(ch. 18).  Also, Hobbes writes that “no law can be unjust” (ch. 30). Why not?

17. Why does Hobbes oppose a separation of powers of the sort that we have in our constitutional system– separate executive, legislative, and judiciary branches?

18. Hobbes says the sovereign can be one man (monarchy) or an assembly of men (aristocracy or democracy). Which system does he prefer, and why?

19. If a monarch dies before announcing his successor, who succeeds him, according to Hobbes?

20. Hobbes writes that “Fear, and liberty are consistent.” What would he say if a man put a gun to my head and asked me to choose between my money or my life. Would he say that in choosing my life I acted freely? How does he define liberty?

21. Machiavelli was reverent of the Greeks and Romans. What is Hobbes’ attitude towards the ancients?

22. Hobbes says that the sovereign of a commonwealth is not subject to the civil laws (ch. 26). Why not?

23. Hobbes writes that we never give a right to another to lay violent hands upon us (ch. 29). If we don’t do this, then how is the state authorized in punishing us? What is Hobbes’ view towards capital punishment? (One relevant passage is in ch. 14; but there are others.)

24. What is Hobbes’ point in referring to the Medea story in ch. 30?

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