78. If you could travel through time and interview any historical figure, whom would you choose, what would you ask, and why? (Hood)
If I could travel through time and interview any historical figure, I would interview Thomas Hobbes. There are many reasons for this; however, the most important reason is that I am writing a research paper on his theories and ideas. I would love to question him about his book Leviathan. That book is extremely confusing, and the language is hard to follow. In his book Leviathan, he talks about how humans are constantly at war with each other. He says that war is the state of nature of human beings. I strongly disagree with this theory. The state of human nature changes according to the choices they make. For example, I have a choice to perfect every skill I can possibly think of, or I have a choice to do nothing at all. The state of nature of both these extremes is different. I would love to hear what his opinion on this statement is.
Thomas Hobbes seems like a really depressed person after reading his book. A few questions regarding his life and his childhood will help me clarify this. His idea of a commonwealth is now in practice in the current world. Maybe not to an extreme like he was suggesting, but it is still there. Coming from a commonwealth country, I would want to tell him about this and ask him how he feels about his ideas actually being practiced in the future, or the present for us.
One other very confusing concept that he discusses in the book is, religion. Even after reading his ideas on god over and over again, I still don’t know whether he supports the fact that God is great, or he thinks that faith is God is a bad idea. I don’t really know what he trying to say. Everyone during that time period, were obsessed with religion, in a good way. He doesn’t seem like that, and I want to know why, therefore I would ask him why. Thomas Hobbes, was very useful to revolutions that followed after him, such as the French and the American Revolutions, therefore it would be an honor to meet him.
