Hobbes And History

An article has just been published today, which I edited, by Bohdana Kurylo: Is Political Science Science? Early signs are that this article will be popular. It is a very interesting article. My own major contribution, I think, was to help draw out Kurylo's notion that Hobbes' political theory was shaped by his personal history -- in fact, by the history of his mother and his country. If this should generally be true, then political science merely reflects a common memory of the past. This would mean that the past has a greater power over us than any such science -- and it may suggest, too, aspects of original sin.