Thomas Hobbes

About Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was a pivotal English philosopher whose work fundamentally shaped modern political thought. He is ranked #355 in historical importance primarily for his seminal text, *Leviathan*, which argued for a powerful, absolute sovereign—the "Leviathan"—to maintain social order and prevent a "war of all against all." His theories on the social contract and the justification of state authority remain cornerstones of Western political philosophy, contrasting sharply with later liberal thinkers.

Despite this high historical ranking, Hobbes's digital footprint in 2025 shows an attention gap. He garnered approximately 556K annualized Wikipedia pageviews, placing him at an attention level roughly equal to his historical importance (an Attention Gap of $\sim 1x$). However, this modest online presence pales in comparison to contemporary philosopher Hannah Arendt (HPI #818), who draws nearly double his traffic at 985K views, and far less than Swami Vivekananda (HPI #734) with 1.2M views. Even figures less historically significant, such as Rajneesh (#568), attract three times the internet attention (1.7M views).

Interestingly, Hobbes's online interest is showing signs of decline, with a Year-over-Year pageview change of -12.2% and a Q1 vs. Q3 Momentum drop of -11%, suggesting his modern relevance may be gradually waning in the immediate online sphere.