Hobbes provided tyranny its first philosophical justification.

Evidence

Every man and every thought which does not serve and does not conform to the ultimate purpose of a machine whose only purpose is the generation and accumulation of power is a dangerous nuisance. … Hobbes’s deep distrust of the whole Western tradition of political thought will not surprise us if we remember that he wanted nothing more nor less than the justification of Tyranny which, though it has occurred many times in Western history, has never been honored with a philosophical foundation. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 396

Categorization

• XREF: Sets up the machine-state-of-power motif Arendt develops; connects to biopolitics and instrumental reason as the logic of total domination.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how does Hobbes’ anti-classical stance prefigure totalitarian hostility to the Western tradition of law and conscience?