John Calvin...and Hobbes

 philosophersguild.com

So in the midst of me creating this witty pun for this week's blog, I did a little research to see if there was a parody cartoon I could use as a pictorial reference and discovered something surprising.  Apparently the character Calvin is based off of John Calvin, and Hobbes is based off of Thomas Hobbes, a theologian and philosopher respectively.  Since these two lovable characters were actually based off of famous figures in history, I decided to see if there were any further similarities in character besides the sharing of names.  To my delighted surprise, there actually were.

  Painting of Calvin by Hans Holbein the Younger

The Calvin we all know and love was a kid that seemed much older and more mature for his age, and had very specific and sometimes odd views concerning personal ethics and politics.  John Calvin was the same in that he strongly believed in predestination as well as strict rules concerning church ethics.  In fact, there is a comic strip that hones in on John Calvin's beliefs, hidden almost in-between the lines.  Calvin is quoted as saying to Hobbes, "If you ask me, the whole notion of 'instant gratification' is a myth!"  Historically, John Calvin did believe in this idea, simply because he believed that all of human life was pretty much preordained and that there wasn't anything one could do about that fact.  Both Calvins questioned the true meaning of life, however subtly, and I believe that there are lots of little 'historical nuggets' to be found in the cartoon in addition to the numerous John Calvin references.   

Sources:
http://www.dailyrepublican.com/calvin-hobbes.html
Zophy's Renaissance and Reformation Europe
Class Discussion

You can find a snazzy t-shirt version of the cartoon pic here!!:  http://www.philosophersguild.com/Calvin-and-Hobbes-T-shirt.html