DOUHAT DOESN'T KNOW HIS HOBBES

(h/t DougJ for linking to the Douhat column)

In a 2009 column nominally about the old "science vs. faith" conflict, Ross Douhat argued that "One can reason productively about questions that cannot be resolved through falsification tests." and gave as one of his examples "there are clear contradictions between the "truth claims" of, say, Locke and Hobbes."

The problem with this choice is that Hobbes contradicts himself. On one hand, he asserts that the power of the monarch is absolute, on the other he claims each person has an absolute right to self-defense. Hobbes never resolved this issue. (h/t A. P. Martinich)