Description: For the first time in three centuries, this book brings into print three texts now confirmed to have been written by the young Thomas Hobbes. The contents of these discourses will lead to a serious reappraisal of the longstanding controversy surrounding early influences and the subsequent development of his thought.

The volume begins with the recent history of the discourses first published as part of the anonymous Seventeenth-century work, Horae Subsecivae. They present the strongest evidence to date for the profound influences of Bacon and Machiavelli on the young Hobbes, and they add a new dimension to the much-debated impact of the scientific method on his thought. These discourses provide direct access to the intellectual concerns and early influences and questions that eventually led Hobbes to the fully formed philosophy of Leviathan. The editors present the complete texts of the discourses with full annotations, modernized spellings, and an essay analyzing the piece's significance for Hobbes's intellectual development and modern intellectual thought.

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