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Why did Thomas Hobbes fear investigation by the House of Commons in 1666?
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Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes, detail of an oil painting by John Michael Wright; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
In 1666, Thomas Hobbes felt seriously endangered because the House of Commons was preparing a bill against atheism and profaneness. The committee tasked with reviewing this bill was specifically instructed to investigate his seminal work, Leviathan.1
Fearing the potential consequences of this parliamentary scrutiny, Hobbes, who was nearly 80 years old at the time, burned several of his personal papers that he believed could be used to compromise him.1