Most great philosophers have found some defenders who are prepared to
swallow everything, even the absurdities; but Hobbes is an exception. He
has aroused admiration in some of his readers, horror in others, but
seldom affection and never undiscriminating affection. Nor is it
surprising that this should be so. He offended against taste and
interest, and his arrogance invited such a consequence. He could not
deny himself the pleasure of exaggeration, and what were remembered were
his incautious moments, and the rest forgotten. His doctrines, or some
of them, have received serious attention and criticism from the time
when they first appeared; but his critics have for the most part been
opponents, and his few defenders not conspicuous for their insight into
his meaning. On the whole it remains true that no great writer has
suffered more at the hands of little men than Hobbes.
(Michael Oakeshott, "Introduction to Leviathan," in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, new and expanded ed. [Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1991], 221-94, at 274 [essay first published in 1946])
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 