Thomas Hobbes boasted of having deserted and run away from fighting in a religious war.
Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
The second judge would not resolve this claim; the verdict shown is the first judge's.
What would count as true or false
True: Hobbes's own writings, such as his verse autobiography or his prose writings about himself, show him proudly describing deserting, or running away to avoid fighting, in a war with a religious character (for example the English Civil War). Mostly true: Hobbes proudly describes fleeing (for example 'the first of all that fled' to France around 1640) at the outbreak of that religiously tinged conflict, but he was not a soldier, so 'deserted' overstates it. Mixed: he describes fleeing but the tone is ambiguous between boasting and justifying, or the link to fighting is weak. Mostly false: he fled, but did not boast of it, or the flight had nothing to do with avoiding fighting. False: Hobbes never wrote or spoke of fleeing any war.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (3)
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E1 The Origins of Political Science: Leo Strauss's Analysis of the Thought of Thomas Hobbes in Natural Right and History - VoegelinView VoegelinView · 13 August 2020
“Regarding War, Hobbes proudly declared the he was the first of all who fled at the outbreak of the English Civil War.”
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E2 The Desire for Immortality as a Political Problem Cambridge University Press · 9 January 2026
“Thosewhotookuparmsinpursuitofsomeformofimmortalitywerethemostseriousthreattopeaceandstability.”
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E3 The Origins of Political Science: Leo Strauss's Analysis of the Thought of Thomas Hobbes in Natural Right and History - VoegelinView VoegelinView · 13 August 2020
“When armies fight, there is on one side, or both, a running away, yet when they do it not out of treachery, but fear, they are not esteemed to do it unjustly, but dishonorably”
Reasoning
E1 is a secondary essay on Leo Strauss's reading of Hobbes. It reports that Hobbes "proudly declared" he was the first of all who fled at the outbreak of the English Civil War, which fits the criteria's description of proud flight from a conflict with a religious character. E1 describes flight at the outbreak of the war rather than desertion from military service, so "deserted" overstates it, and that matches the mostly-true criterion. This verdict rests on one secondary paraphrase rather than Hobbes's own text, so it is a cautious one. E3 and E4 do not address Hobbes boasting about his own flight.
Cite this claim
Peter Thiel, “Thomas Hobbes boasted of having deserted and run away from fighting in a religious war.” (said 2007). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_f5346d32c8f8, method 0.1.0+3e03e2df, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_f5346d32c8f8
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
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