Hobbes, Abba, Waterloo and margarine
Free Thinking
What do you owe the state? Do you think in terms of loyalties and duties? Writing during the English civil war, Thomas Hobbes came up with an outline for the social contract between the people and the sovereign – on Free Thinking, Matthew Sweet and guests unpick his ideas and come up with a version for now. They also explore the politics of butter, margarine and scones and seek guidance about history from Abba lyrics.
Free Thinking
What do you owe the state? Do you think in terms of loyalties and duties? Writing during the English civil war, Thomas Hobbes came up with an outline for the social contract between the people and the sovereign – on Free Thinking, Matthew Sweet and guests unpick his ideas and come up with a version for now. They also explore the politics of butter, margarine and scones and seek guidance about history from Abba lyrics.
This inspired this poem:
Hobbe’s World
Untamed nature: a fearful life
Existence is nasty, brutish, short
Tribalism ascendant, much strife
Warlords make savage sport
The State: control is absolute
Everything fixed in its space
Voices of dissent are mute
Determinism wipes out grace
The social contract, never free
Hobbe’s Leviathan in charge
Material destiny and tyranny
No dissidents allowed at large
In the modern world of today
Hobbe’s ghost makes many pay
Hobbe’s World
Untamed nature: a fearful life
Existence is nasty, brutish, short
Tribalism ascendant, much strife
Warlords make savage sport
The State: control is absolute
Everything fixed in its space
Voices of dissent are mute
Determinism wipes out grace
The social contract, never free
Hobbe’s Leviathan in charge
Material destiny and tyranny
No dissidents allowed at large
In the modern world of today
Hobbe’s ghost makes many pay
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