Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes - Book Report/Review Example

According to Hobbes, the cause of sense is the external body or the object which initiates the sense in man including seeing, hearing, and smell. The author introduces the second concept, i.e. imagination as contrary to the concept of sense and he maintains that imagination is nothing but decaying sense. It is a faculty in man as well as other living creatures which are active while one is sleeping as well as waking. In the process of the decaying of sense, there are several past and present elements that form part of memory.

Experience forms out of the memory of many things and it is another faulty of imagination. The imagination of the people who are asleep forms dreams which in turn give rise to apparitions or visions. The imagination which is raised in man by words or other voluntary signs is called understanding. In the next chapter of the section, the author deals with the consequence or TRAYNE of imaginations. “By consequences or TRAYNE of thoughts, I understand that succession of one thought to another, which is called Mental Discourse.

” (Hobbes, 94) In this chapter, the author deals with concepts such as unguided thoughts, regulated thoughts, remembrance, prudence, signs, etc. In the chapter Of Speech, the author deals with the faculty of speech, the uses, and abuses of speech, etc.