In a lengthy discussion of various popular folktales and legends, Hobbes uses a paradox to explain what he believes are the real-life consequences of imaginary beings such as fairies and witches:
For as for Witches, I think not that their witchcraft is any reall power; but yet that they are justly punished, for the false beliefe they have, that they can do such mischiefe, joyned with their purpose to do it if they can: their trade being neerer to a new Religion, than to a Craft or Science.
Throughout much of the medieval and early modern period, there was broad belief in the existence of witches who gained dark and dangerous powers through a covenant with the devil. Many individuals were put on trial and executed on suspicion of being a witch and cursing their neighbors with disease, crop failure, or other misfortunes. Here, Hobbes articulates a surprising paradox: that there is no such thing as witchcraft, but nevertheless, it is just to punish witches. He justifies this paradox on the basis of ethical intention: witches might not have “any reall power,” but they nevertheless believe that they have the power to harm others and are willing to use their supposed powers for “mischief.”
