Professor Kinch Hoekstra is a political theorist in the Department of Political Science and the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program of the Law School. He recently joined the Berkeley faculty from the University of Oxford where he earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1998 and subsequently worked as Lecturer in Philosophy and Fellow and Tutor in Ancient and Modern Philosophy. His research focuses on the history of political thought up to 1700. He has published many articles on Thomas Hobbes, including analyses of his conceptions of philosophy, prophecy, natural law, tyranny, democracy, mixed government, political obligation, and the rationality of obedience to the law.