Talk:Thomas Hobbes

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Thomas Hobbes was featured in a WikiWorld cartoon. Click the image to the right for full size version.

Early life

The Early life section wrote:

Having been born prematurely when his mother heard of the coming invasion of the Spanish Armada, ...

How? Since

The Spanish Armada, the Spanish fleet of 130 ships sailed from Corunna in late May 1588.

How his mother heard of the coming invasion in the early April 1588? --Diszi (talk) 06:08, 25 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If you look at the topic "The Spanish Armada's role" etc. that I have added to this page, you will have your answer as to what the article is talking about with that strange claim. Gulielmus Rosseus (talk) 22:15, 20 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Spanish Armada's role in Hobbes's birth

A fun one this. The article currently notes that "Hobbes was born prematurely due to his mother's fear of the Spanish Armada." The article does not footnote a source for this. But it is a reference to a story related by Hobbes himself, e.g. in his English verse autobiography, which relates that

"For Fame had rumour'd, that a Fleet at Sea, Wou'd cause our Nations Catastrophe; And hereupon it was my Mother Dear Did bring forth Twins at once, both Me, and Fear."

Aubrey in his famous biography of Hobbes in the larger Brief Lives reports likewise that "His mother fell in labour with him upon the fright of the invasion of the Spaniards" and quotes the (Latin version of the) verse autobiography in support of it.

However, as you might expect, Hobbes historians have wanted to spoil the fun by asking serious questions about the probability of this story. For one thing, Hobbes was born many weeks before the Spanish Armada set sail. My sense anyway is that Hobbes was joking.

I'm considering having a deeper look at this article as there are areas where I think considerable content could be added to it. But I wanted to leave these notes here in case I don't have time to take up the project and someone else finds themselves disturbed by this strange claim having such a prominent place, unfootnoted, in the article. Gulielmus Rosseus (talk) 22:13, 20 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Premature birth in lead section

Hello,

Currently in the lead section, in mentions:

Hobbes was born prematurely due to his mother's fear of the Spanish Armada.

According to MOS:LEAD, the lead section is only meant to be

an introduction to an article and a summary of its most important contents.

I therefore believe that his premature birth is undue weight for the lead section. I propose removing it. DeathTrain (talk) 14:39, 16 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]