The footnote on page 3, paragraph 1 of the introduction to Hobbes Leviathan claims the title Leviathan alludes to Job 41. This chapter describes the Leviathan as an immensely powerful creature uncontrollable but by God himself, for God himself created it. Yet in the previous sentence Hobbes names "art" the creator of the Leviathan. Is it possible that Hobbes views God as the principle cause of all things? This strikes me as strange for someone whose writings influenced so many materialists.
In paragraph 1 of chapter iv he claims that God gave speech to man. As we talked about in class on Monday, he most certainly could have presented a way in which man could have developed speech without divine intervention, yet he chooses to attribute this to God. This God-given language Adam possessed seems to be free of the empty words and "insignificant sounds" mentioned in paragraph 20 of chapter iv. What if man had perfect speech before the tower of Babel? Perfect speech being a language with words that were not symbols of what they referenced but actually the things themselves. With perfect speech man would have perfect understanding since "understanding [is] nothing else but conception caused by speech." Man, an imperfect being, in possession of a perfect speech and understanding results in man building a tower to heaven. What does God do then? He removes man's perfect speech and consequently his perfect understanding.
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This is an intriguing post. I'm very interested in this idea of man possessing perfect speech before the Tower of Babel. However, I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with the idea that perfect speech equated for them perfect understanding. I think perfect speech would allow man to see what things are but not necessarily how they are clearly. For example, though Eve may have perceived perfectly the being of the snake, she did not perceive of its nature as an evil deceiver. Had she, and had Adam understood fully the command (or word) of God that the eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would lead to destruction, they may not have been so quick to go astray.
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