The New Conception of an Obligation

For hobbs, and this is where he kind of stands at a threshold between sort of ancient ethics and the more modern conceptions of ethics. What we see in the eighteenth century with figures like groces and hobbs is a new conception of obligation that arises. In virtue of having contracted with another person, i have an obligation in this duritical sense to do. That's an interesting development in hobbs that sets up a lot of modern ways of thinking about ethics later on.