But mobility is not just about the literal movement of people; ideas about
mobility in general, and what it might mean, were also changing. Science
and philosophy increasingly looked to mobility as a central fact of existence
that needed to be accounted for. The historical circumstances of the early
seventeenth century and the success of mercantile capitalism saw transformations
in the way the concept of mobility was valued. Galileo’s new
science had reconfi gured understandings of movement. Most importantly,
the idea of inertia stated that bodies would continue to move in a straight
line unless deflected by an outside source. This view of moving bodies contradicted
the hegemonic Aristotelian belief that things only moved in order to reach some end point—some telos. Movement to Aristotle was a result
of potential already in an object that had to be fulfilled. Th e natural state
of things was rest. To Galileo, the natural state of things was movement
with rest being a mere accident.38 As Galileo reconfi gured mobility in the
physical world, so William Harvey gave it new meaning in the body. In
the early seventeenth century most medical experts believed that food was
converted into blood in the liver, and that this blood then acted as a fuel
that was used by the body. Through extensive dissection, Harvey knew this
to be false. He was interested in the way blood flowed through the human
body. In 1628 Harvey published An Anatomical Study of the Movement of
the Heart and of the Blood in Animals, which explained how blood was
pumped from the heart throughout the body, then returned to the heart
and recirculated. The discoveries of Galileo and Harvey had impacts well
beyond the realms of science. They informed the political philosophy of
Thomas Hobbes.