Using the example of ghosts and religion, this paper argues for the importance of social context and background operative in Hobbes’s account of social life and, in particular, the role of environment, education, and language in explaining much of what we think we know, and much of what we believe. The paper looks to aspects of Hobbes’s epistemology and his account of belief, to make the case that he recognizes how a kind of social conditioning is required to sustain certain beliefs. The paper briefly concludes with a focus on the commonwealth itself and how the example of religion and religious belief extends to the commonwealth and the kinds of beliefs required for the commonwealth to sustain itself.

中文翻译：

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以相信为条件：宗教、教育和社会背景的霍布斯

本文以鬼魂和宗教为例，论证了霍布斯对社会生活的描述中社会背景和背景的重要性，特别是环境、教育和语言在解释我们认为我们知道的大部分内容方面的作用，以及我们所相信的大部分内容。这篇论文着眼于霍布斯的认识论和他对信仰的解释的各个方面，以证明他认识到维持某些信仰需要一种社会条件。本文以英联邦本身为重点，以及宗教和宗教信仰的例子如何延伸到英联邦以及英联邦维持自身所需的各种信仰作为简要总结。