Metaphysics

Of the two Cartesian substances, Hobbes accepts extended material substance and denies the spiritual; or, rather, he makes the spiritual substance a derivative of material substance. Matter is not passive, as it was for Descartes. On the contrary, it is endowed with motion, and this motion is from within. Thus for Hobbes there are two metaphysical elements: matter and motion, which can be reduced to one, dynamic matter. The intrinsic motion of matter has given origin to the diversity of the inorganic and organic world. Life is thus a product of matter and motion, and the human soul is a composite of very subtle atoms.

Hobbes does not deny the existence of God, but he is decidedly opposed to any positive revealed religion, including Christianity.

Even the moral life does not exceed the limits of matter and of motion. Sensations, passing to the heart, generate pleasure and hate, that is, inclinations and repulsions. Men naturally tend to pleasure considered as a form of self-satisfaction. But such a tendency must be rationalized by calculation, in order that it may bring greater pleasure. This is possible only in the state.