Students Get Hands-On With 17th-Century Classic

First-year business major Tea Pucillo had just read “Leviathan,” English philosopher Thomas Hobbes’ 1651 book about the role of government and human nature, in her Introduction to Ethics course.

At a recent interdisciplinary conference about the work that was co-hosted by the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (FAHSS) and the UMass Lowell Library, Pucillo got to touch the yellowed pages of a first edition of the 17th-century text from the university’s rare book collection.

“I feel weird touching the book because it’s so old, but it’s also amazing,” Pucillo said. “I didn't know that UMass Lowell had a book like this, which is pretty awesome.”

The conference, “Thomas Hobbes & His Leviathan,” brought together nearly 100 faculty, students and staff from across campus, using the university’s valuable first edition as a centerpiece for discussion and hands-on learning.

“Coming together around a shared topic — this is exactly the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration that we want to see,” said FAHSS Dean Sue Kim.

English Teaching Professor Kevin Petersen and History Professor Christopher Carlsmith organized the event at University Crossing, featuring faculty and student panels. History Assistant Professor Andrew Drenas, coordinator of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies program, also helped support the conference.

“We’re a large research university, but in many ways, we operate like a small liberal arts college where people are exchanging ideas, wrestling with challenges and making connections across disciplines,” Petersen said.

Petersen and Carlsmith led a faculty panel that included Art History Assistant Teaching Professor Jennifer Cadero-Gillette, Philosophy Associate Professor Nicholas Evans, Philosophy Professor John Kaag, English Associate Teaching Professor Katie Shrieves and Library Head Archivist Tony Sampas.

Carlsmith opened with an overview of Hobbes’ life and work, situating “Leviathan” in the context of the English Civil War and the scientific revolution. Hobbes, he explained, argued that without strong central authority, society would descend into disorder — a view that has shaped political thought for more than three centuries.

Evans connected those ideas to the present, describing how Hobbes’ concept of a chaotic “state of nature” continues to influence modern theories of international relations. He noted that scholars today are reexamining how Hobbes’ ideas have been interpreted, particularly whether his observations about conflict between states point to the need for stronger systems of cooperation and control.

Kaag reflected on Hobbes’ relevance and how rare books like “Leviathan” came to UMass Lowell. Shortly after arriving at the university in 2010, Kaag traveled to Chocorua, New Hampshire, where he was introduced to a private library once owned by Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. The 400-acre estate had been left largely abandoned, with thousands of books — including rare early modern texts — still on the shelves. Over several years, Kaag helped catalog the collection and made the case to bring a portion of it to UMass Lowell, which ultimately acquired more than 260 volumes.

Ranging from 1637 to the mid-20th century, the collection includes an early edition of René Descartes’ “Discourse on Method,” which introduced “I think, therefore I am,” and John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government” from 1690. Several of the volumes were on display at the conference and are now used in UML classrooms.

“It’s important for students to have the chance to engage with these books firsthand,” said Kaag, who used the experience of discovering the collection as the basis for his 2016 book “American Philosophy: A Love Story.”

The student panel included political science majors Rena McFall and Siri Wolf, history major Daranee Khoeun, mechanical engineering major Matheus Queiroz, electrical engineering major Colin Benvenuto and mathematics and world languages double-major Kevin Jacobson. They developed their talks from papers they wrote on “Leviathan” in a philosophy course with Kaag last semester.

“At first I didn’t like Hobbes, but he says a lot of important things,” said Wolf, who examined Hobbes’ arguments through the lens of game theory, exploring how individuals balance cooperation and self-interest within a political system. “Figuring out how to engage with him without rejecting him entirely was a big part of my project.”

Jacobson looked at how Hobbes’ ideas about sovereignty and the social contract apply to modern American democracy.

“Hobbes’ theory assumes that people give up rights for security, but American democracy is built on the idea of inalienable rights,” Jacobson said.

Library Dean Galadriel Chilton said the event reflects a broader effort to connect teaching, research and library collections across disciplines.

“This really exemplifies what is phenomenal about an academic community,” said Chilton, who hopes to see the conference become an annual fixture at UML.

Public administration graduate student Owen Fryns ’25, a member of the Model United Nations team, was interested in applying Hobbes’ ideas to modern international relations theories. As an archives intern at the Center for Lowell History, he said the opportunity to handle the nearly 400-year-old “Leviathan” was also too good to miss.

“You can see a PDF online, but to actually hold it and turn the pages — there’s nothing better,” he said.