Hobbes frames savages as deprived of arts rather than as hostile enemies.

Evidence

These “savages” are not inherently hostile, or destroyers of civilization, they just do not have the leisure to acquire knowledge, to build durable and perennial works. They are limited to the bare “natural” – imprisoned in it – because they do not master the necessary “arts.” — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 79

Categorization

• SHARE: Good counter to the lazy reading that Hobbes thinks savages are evil — worth sending to a political-theory friend.
• XREF: connects to: Hobbes’s prejudice against Native Americans was civilizational rather than racial. — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 71; Hobbes’s exclusionary frame is cultural-historical civility rather than biological race — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 25

Related

• Hobbes read contemporary American tribes as living evidence of Europe’s own ancient past. (similarity 0.86)
• Hobbes locates his hypothesized state of nature in the living present of Americas’ peoples (similarity 0.85)
• Hobbes’s prejudice against Native Americans was civilizational rather than racial. (similarity 0.83)
• Hobbes consistently tied the word savage to America as its expected location (similarity 0.83)
• Hobbes’s exclusionary frame is cultural-historical civility rather than biological race (similarity 0.81)
• Calling Hobbes a racist need not be anachronistic. (similarity 0.79)
• Social contract theory embeds a tacit savage-versus-civilized opposition rather than only a nature-versus-civility one (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Hobbes’s exclusionary frame is cultural-historical civility rather than biological race #corroborates (0.85) — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 25