Methodologies of interpreting Hobbes: historical and philosophical

Interpretive approaches are usually seen in terms of schools of thought, like contextualist, Marxist, philosophical, and so on. This ‘box-fitting’ perspective is misleading and potentially harmful. It is misleading because it ignores principles of good interpretation which we all use. It is potentially harmful because people who see themselves in a single box may avoid using research or techniques from outside their box. This chapter’s central message is that understanding Hobbes requires historical and philosophical analysis. Our methodological literature, however, has often treated historical and philosophical analysis as alternatives, or emphasised the former and ignored the latter. One reason is that philosophical analysis is usually seen as an end, e.g. reconstructing authors to see how well their ideas work. But philosophical analysis is also a means to uncovering authors’ meanings and motivations – just as historical analysis is. This is why we need both.