Hobbes’ Mechanistic Conception of Human Nature and the Restless Pursuit of Desire: A Comparative Study with Aristotle and J.S. Mill Introduction Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) represents a decisive turn in the history of political and moral philosophy, introducing a mechanistic and materialist anthropology that broke with classical and scholastic teleology. In Leviathan (1651), Hobbes redefined happiness … Continue reading What factors in Hobbes’ philosophical system — particularly his mechanistic view of human nature — led him to define happiness as a restless pursuit of desires? Compare Hobbes’ understanding of human desire with Aristotle’s teleological notion of eudaimonia and John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian conception of happiness.