Quotation
Last reviewed:
“The power of a man is his present means to obtain some future apparent good.”
Thomas Hobbes · Political philosophy · Early modern · 1651
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the definition as instrumental: power is not a mysterious glow and not only office, but whatever present means can be used to get what appears good later. Reputation, friends, money, and prudence all count. A rival reading hears a claim that domination is the only human aim, but an apparent good can be peace or science, and the definition is about means. Chapter 10 lists kinds of power before the political argument tightens; It is his English, and it is a definition, so the rest of the chapter shows the range.
Did Thomas Hobbes really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Hobbes's own English in Leviathan, chapter 10. Power is instrumental, present means to a future apparent good, and it includes natural faculties and instrumental advantages such as wealth and friends. The wording is secure.
Where it comes from
Leviathan, chapter 10
Approximate date: 1651.
How to use it
A library card, a cousin on the council, and a week's wages are all powers on this definition if they are present means to something wanted later, a job, a repair, a school place. The definition does not rank those goods as worthy. It stops power being reserved as a word for people who already hold titles; In a town in County Durham the means are often small and still fit the sentence exactly.
A mindset reading
Apparent is the caution in the definition. The good is what appears good to the person, so power can be spent on a mistake. He is not saying that every means is admirable; He is saying that a science of politics that cannot talk about means, because it only wants to talk about rightful ends, will not see why people move; Chapter 11's restless desire of power after power uses this definition and should not be read without it.
Understand the philosophy
The key term is power, present means to a future apparent good, natural or instrumental. Chapter 10 is the catalogue. Worth, in the next stretch, is the price others will pay for the use of that power, a deliberately unsentimental account. The English of Leviathan is his; This sentence is not the later line about a perpetual desire of power after power, which has its own entry.
- power
- society
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the definition as instrumental: power is not a mysterious glow and not only office, but whatever present means can be used to get what appears good later. Reputation, friends, money, and prudence all count. A rival reading hears a claim that domination is the only human aim, but an apparent good can be peace or science, and the definition is about means. Chapter 10 lists kinds of power before the political argument tightens; It is his English, and it is a definition, so the rest of the chapter shows the range.
Did Thomas Hobbes really say this?
Well attested. Hobbes's own English in Leviathan, chapter 10. Power is instrumental, present means to a future apparent good, and it includes natural faculties and instrumental advantages such as wealth and friends. The wording is secure.
Which work is it in?
Leviathan, chapter 10 Approximate date: 1651.