Helmut Schelsky's "German" Hobbes Interpretation

Abstract

Helmut Schelsky (1912-1914) is certainly one of the most important and influential German sociologists of the post war period. He held professorial chairs in sociology in the Federal Republic for thirty tears (1948-1978): in Hamburg, Munster, Bielefeld and, again, Munster. Owing to the lack of translations Schelsky is, however, not very well known in the English-speaking world. It's also difficult to point out one or two principal writings from his hand; rather we have to do with a continuous stream of publications on a wide range of topics. In this article, however, I'll focus on Schelsky's controversial postdoctoral thesis on Thomas Hobbes, which he presented on the eve of the Second World War. My discussion is furthermore intended as a contribution to the much wider theme: German intellectuals and National Socialism.