How did Thomas Hobbes connect motion to human thoughts and emotions?

Thomas Hobbes was a mechanical materialist who believed that all reality consists of matter in motion. Within his systematic philosophy, he categorized psychology as the study of the effects of internal motions within animate bodies on human behavior.12

Hobbes argued that human thoughts and mental states are essentially the results of physical bodies acting upon the sense organs. He described the mind as being "moved" by various passions and perturbations, such as desire, aversion, appetite, fear, anger, and envy. In this framework, these emotions are not abstract or spiritual phenomena but are instead the internal effects of physical motion.31

By reducing human psychology to these mechanical principles, Hobbes sought to explain how individual passions—particularly self-interest, pride, and fear—drive human actions. He believed that these psychological impulses, governed by the laws of motion, necessitated the creation of a social contract to constrain wayward human wills and maintain civil peace through the power of a sovereign.34