Interpreting Hobbes's Political Philosophy

Interpreting Hobbes's Political Philosophy
Author: S. A. Lloyd
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2019-01-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1108246524

The essays in this volume provide a state-of-the-art overview of the central elements of Hobbes's political philosophy and the ways in which they can be interpreted. The volume's contributors offer their own interpretations of Hobbes's philosophical method, his materialism, his psychological theory and moral theory, and his views on benevolence, law and civil liberties, religion, and women. Hobbes's ideas of authorization and representation, his use of the 'state of nature', and his reply to the unjust 'Foole' are also critically analyzed. The essays will help readers to orient themselves in the complex scholarly literature while also offering groundbreaking arguments and innovative interpretations. The volume as a whole will facilitate new insights into Hobbes's political theory, enabling readers to consider key elements of his thought from multiple perspectives and to select and combine them to form their own interpretations of his political philosophy.

Made with Words

Made with Words
Author: Philip Pettit
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2009-07-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0691143250

Argues that it was Hobbes, not later thinkers like Rousseau, who invented the invention of language thesis - the idea that language is a cultural innovation that transformed the human mind.

Hobbes on Resistance

Hobbes on Resistance
Author: Susanne Sreedhar
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2010-09-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139488309

Hobbes's political theory has traditionally been taken to be an endorsement of state power and a prescription for unconditional obedience to the sovereign's will. In this book, Susanne Sreedhar develops a novel interpretation of Hobbes's theory of political obligation and explores important cases where Hobbes claims that subjects have a right to disobey and resist state power, even when their lives are not directly threatened. Drawing attention to this broader set of rights, her comprehensive analysis of Hobbes's account of political disobedience reveals a unified and coherent theory of resistance that has previously gone unnoticed and undefended. Her book will appeal to all who are interested in the nature and limits of political authority, the right of self-defense, the right of revolution, and the modern origins of these issues.

Feminist Interpretations of Thomas Hobbes

Feminist Interpretations of Thomas Hobbes
Author: Nancy J. Hirschmann
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2015-06-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0271061359

Feminist Interpretations of Thomas Hobbes features the work of feminist scholars who are centrally engaged with Hobbes’s ideas and texts and who view Hobbes as an important touchstone in modern political thought. Bringing together scholars from the disciplines of philosophy, history, political theory, and English literature who embrace diverse theoretical and philosophical approaches and a range of feminist perspectives, this interdisciplinary collection aims to appeal to an audience of Hobbes scholars and nonspecialists alike. As a theorist whose trademark is a compelling argument for absolute sovereignty, Hobbes may seem initially to have little to offer twenty-first-century feminist thought. Yet, as the contributors to this collection demonstrate, Hobbesian political thought provides fertile ground for feminist inquiry. Indeed, in engaging Hobbes, feminist theory engages with what is perhaps the clearest and most influential articulation of the foundational concepts and ideas associated with modernity: freedom, equality, human nature, authority, consent, coercion, political obligation, and citizenship. Aside from the editors, the contributors are Joanne Boucher, Karen Detlefsen, Karen Green, Wendy Gunther-Canada, Jane S. Jaquette, S. A. Lloyd, Su Fang Ng, Carole Pateman, Gordon Schochet, Quentin Skinner, and Susanne Sreedhar.

The Limits of Reason in Hobbes's Commonwealth

The Limits of Reason in Hobbes's Commonwealth
Author: Michael P. Krom
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2011-10-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1441182616

The Limits of Reason in Hobbes's Commonwealth explores Hobbes's attempt to construct a political philosophy of enduring peace on the foundation of the rational individual. Hobbes's rational individual, motivated by self-preservation, obeys the laws of the commonwealth and thus is conceived as the model citizen. Yet Hobbes intimates that there are limits to what such an actor will do for peace, and that the glory-seeker - "too rarely found to be presumed on" - is capable of a generosity that is necessary for political longevity. Michael P. Krom identifies this as a fundamental contradiction in Hobbes's system: he builds the commonwealth on the rational actor, yet acknowledges the need for the irrational glory-seeker. Krom argues that Hobbes's attempt to establish a "king of the proud" fails to overcome the limits of reason and the precariousness of politics. This book synthesizes recent work on Hobbes's understanding of glory and political stability, challenging the view that Hobbes succeeds in incorporating glory-seekers into his political theory and explores the implications of this for contemporary political philosophy after Rawls.

The Two Gods of Leviathan

The Two Gods of Leviathan
Author: A. P. Martinich
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2003-02-20
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521531238

In this provocative new study, Professor Martinich shows that religious concerns pervade Leviathan and indicates how, for Hobbes, Christian doctrine is not politically destabilising and is consistent with modern science.

Leviathan

Leviathan
Author: Thomas Hobbes
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2012-10-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 048612214X

Written during a moment in English history when the political and social structures were in flux and open to interpretation, Leviathan played an essential role in the development of the modern world.

The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes

The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes
Author: Tom Sorell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 420
Release: 1996-01-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521422444

The most convenient, accessible guide to Hobbes available.

Morality in the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes

Morality in the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes
Author: S. A. Lloyd
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2009-07-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521861675

In this book, S. A. Lloyd offers a radically new interpretation of Hobbes's laws of nature, revealing them to be not egoistic precepts of personal prudence but rather moral instructions for obtaining the common good. This account of Hobbes's moral philosophy stands in contrast to both divine command and rational choice interpretations. Drawing from the core notion of reciprocity, Lloyd explains Hobbes's system of "cases in the law of nature" and situates Hobbes's moral philosophy in the broader context of his political philosophy and views on religion. Offering ingenious new arguments, Lloyd defends a reciprocity interpretation of the laws of nature through which humanity's common good is secured.

Hobbes Today

Hobbes Today
Author: S. A. Lloyd
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 595
Release: 2012-12-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139851330

Hobbes Today: Insights for the 21st Century brings together an impressive group of political philosophers, legal theorists and political scientists to investigate the many ways in which the work of Thomas Hobbes, the famed seventeenth-century English philosopher, can illuminate the political and social problems we face today. Its essays demonstrate the contemporary relevance of Hobbes' political thought on such issues as justice, human rights, public reason, international warfare, punishment, fiscal policy and the design of positive law, among others. The volume's contributors include both Hobbes specialists and philosophers bringing their expertise to consideration of Hobbes' texts for the first time. This volume will stimulate renewed interest in Hobbes studies among a new generation of thinkers.