How did Galileo, Kepler, and William Harvey influence Thomas Hobbes’s scientific work?

Thomas Hobbes was a significant systematizer of the scientific findings of his contemporaries, integrating their discoveries into his own philosophical framework, which posited that all observed phenomena are the effects of matter in motion.1

Hobbes incorporated the work of these scientists into his major trilogy—De Corpore, De Homine, and De Cive—to organize natural science, psychology, and politics into a coherent hierarchy. His specific influences included:2

• Galileo: Hobbes utilized Galileo’s findings regarding the motions of terrestrial bodies to support his materialist view of the universe.12
• Johannes Kepler: Hobbes drew upon Kepler’s work in astronomy to further develop his scientific system.2
• William Harvey: Hobbes integrated Harvey’s groundbreaking research on the circulation of the blood into his own scientific writings.2

By tracing these phenomena to principles concerning the sizes, shapes, positions, and speeds of matter, Hobbes aimed to create a rigorous, rule-based science of politics that functioned similarly to arithmetic and geometry.23