John Gray- Living in a Hobbesian world

Ready to take your next journey of Discovery? The Renaissance: Journeys of Discovery at BRLSI is a yearlong programme of talks and events exploring the many joys, discoveries and something of the broader cultural legacy of a movement still making waves in the 21st century.  Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Martin Luther, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Machiavelli, Hieronymus Bosch, if you love culture then you’ll love our new talks series!

But what of philosophy? In his masterpiece Leviathan, published in 1651, Thomas Hobbes tried to present a way out from what he described as “a state of nature”—a condition in which order has broken down in society. His solution was a type of government that placed peace over all other values.  In a highlight of the Renaissance: Journeys of Discovery programme, Professor John Gray, columnist for The New Statesman and author of Straw Dogs, The Silence of Animals and The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism asks, ‘How far is Hobbes’s picture of human conflict still valid, and is the remedy he proposed viable today?’

To learn more about the Renaissance and our exciting year long programme, don’t forget to follow our Renaissance: Journeys of Discovery webpage: https://www.brlsi.org/renaissance/

Image: Detail from cover of The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism by John Gray, published by Penguin