Thomas Hobbes

Otfried Höffe, Nicholas Walker

Description

Best known for his contributions to political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes set out to develop a coherent philosophical system extending from logic and natural philosophy to civil and religious philosophy. In this introduction to Hobbes's thought, Otfried Höffe begins by providing an overview of the entire scope of his work, making clear its systematic character through analysis of his natural philosophy, his individual and social anthropology, and his political thought. He then offers an innovative examination of religious and ecclesiastical questions, touching not only on the political implications of religion so important to Hobbes, but also on his attempt to reconstruct Christianity in terms of a materialistic philosophy. He also explores Hobbes's continuous critique of Aristotle and Aristotelian Scholastics, in which Höffe argues that Hobbes and Aristotle have much more in common philosophically than is normally supposed—and certainly more than Hobbes himself acknowledged. Finally, Höffe sketches the influence Hobbes had and continues to have on the development of legal and political philosophy.
Abbreviations

1. Introduction: Thomas Hobbes: A Pioneer of Modernity

1.1 Three Challenges of the Epoch
1.2 A Pioneer in Three Senses
1.3 The Continuity of Hobbes’s Development

I. Hobbes’s Career and Philosophical Development

2. Beginnings

2.1 Student, Tutor, and Traveling Companion
2.2 Euclid and Galileo
2.3 The English Civil War
2.4 Exile in Paris

3. Leviathan and Behemoth

3.1 A Fractured Relationship to Rhetoric
3.2 The Symbol of Leviathan
3.3 The Return to England

Part II. The Encyclopedic Character of Hobbes’s Philosophy

4. Science in the Service of Peace

4.1 The Principal Aim of Hobbes’s Philosophy
4.2 The Complex Method
4.3 The Mathematical Paradigm and Its Limits
4.4 Ethics and Political Authority
4.5 Analysis and Composition

5. Natural Philosophy and the Theory of Knowledge

5.1 Empirical Realism
5.2 Levels of Knowledge
5.3 On Dreams
5.4 Prudence

6. Language, Reason, and Science

6.1 Language 1: The Pre-communicative Dimension
6.2 Language 2: The Political Dimension
6.3 Realism and Nominalism
6.4 The Framework of Language and Reason
6.5 Science
6.6 Hobbes’s Division of the Sciences

7. An Anthropology of the Individual: The Passions

7.1 A Naturalistic Hedonism
7.2 A Topography of the Passions
7.3 Freedom, Self-Preservation, and Determinism
7.4 Power

8. An Anthropology of the Social: The Possibility of Peace in a Condition of War

8.1 The Conditions of Peace
8.2 “Man Is a Wolf to Man”
8.3 A Prevailing Inclination for Peace?

9. Legitimating the State

9.1 The Laws of Nature
9.2 A Moral Philosophy?
9.3 The Original Contract
9.4 Absolute Authority
9.5 A Right to Rebellion?

10. Law

10.1 “Not Truth but Authority”
10.2 The Division of Laws
10.3 A Theory of Commands
10.4 Laws of Nature as a Corrective?
10.5 Authorized Power

11. Religion and Church

11.1 A Twofold Political Question
11.2 The Anthropological Foundations of Religion
11.3 The Kingdom of God
11.4 The Principles of a Christian Politics
11.5 A Materialistic Theology
11.6 Hobbes’s Critique of Other Churches

12. An Excursus: Hobbes’s Critique of Aristotle

12.1 The “Vain Philosophy” of Aristotle
12.2 An Aristotelian in Spite of Himself
12.3 Inevitable Strife or the Social Nature of Man?

13. History

13.1 Translating Thucydides
13.2 The History of the Church and the Kingdom of God
13.3 Behemoth

Part III. The Influence of Hobbes

14. From His Age to Our Own

14.1 The Early Reception and Critique of Hobbes’s Work
14.2 A Continuing Debate
14.3 The Modern Discussion

Chronology of Hobbes’s Life and Work
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie politique
• Philosophie moderne
• Philosophie moderne
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 08 septembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438457673
• Langue: English

Extrait

THOMAS HOBBES
THOMAS HOBBES
Otfried Höffe
Translated by Nicholas Walker
Thomas Hobbes , Otfried Höffe © Verlag C.H.Beck oHG, München 2010
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2015 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Jenn Bennett
Marketing, Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Höffe, Otfried.
[Thomas Hobbes. English]
Thomas Hobbes / Otfried Höffe ; translated by Nicholas Walker.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5765-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4384-5767-3 (e-book)
1. Hobbes, Thomas, 1588–1679. 2. Political scientists—Great Britain—Biography. 3. Philosophers—Great Britain—Biography. 4. Political science—Philosophy. I. Title.
JC153.H66H5813 2015
192—dc22
[B]
2014040649
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Abbreviations
1. Introduction: Thomas Hobbes: A Pioneer of Modernity
1.1. Three Challenges of the Epoch
1.2. A Pioneer in Three Senses
1.3. The Continuity of Hobbes’s Development
I.
HOBBES’S CAREER AND PHILOSOPHICAL DEVELOPMENT
2. Beginnings
2.1. Student, Tutor, and Traveling Companion
2.2. Euclid and Galileo
2.3. The English Civil War
2.4. Exile in Paris
3. Leviathan and Behemoth
3.1. A Fractured Relationship to Rhetoric
3.2. The Symbol of Leviathan
3.3. The Return to England
II.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIC CHARACTER OF HOBBES’S PHILOSOPHY
4. Science in the Service of Peace
4.1. The Principal Aim of Hobbes’s Philosophy
4.2. The Complex Method
4.3. The Mathematical Paradigm and Its Limits
4.4. Ethics and Political Authority
4.5. Analysis and Composition
5. Natural Philosophy and the Theory of Knowledge
5.1. Empirical Realism
5.2. Levels of Knowledge
5.3. On Dreams
5.4. Prudence
6. Language, Reason, and Science
6.1. Language 1: The Pre-communicative Dimension
6.2. Language 2: The Political Dimension
6.3. Realism and Nominalism
6.4. The Framework of Language and Reason
6.5. Science
6.6. Hobbes’s Division of the Sciences
7. An Anthropology of the Individual: The Passions
7.1. A Naturalistic Hedonism
7.2. A Topography of the Passions
7.3. Freedom, Self-Preservation, and Determinism
7.4. Power
8. An Anthropology of the Social: The Possibility of Peace in a Condition of War
8.1. The Conditions of Peace
8.2. “Man Is a Wolf to Man”
8.3. A Prevailing Inclination for Peace?
9. Legitimating the State
9.1. The Laws of Nature
9.2. A Moral Philosophy?
9.3. The Original Contract
9.4. Absolute Authority
9.5. A Right to Rebellion?
10. Law
10.1. “Not Truth but Authority”
10.2. The Division of Laws
10.3. A Theory of Commands
10.4. Laws of Nature as a Corrective?
10.5. Authorized Power
11. Religion and Church
11.1. A Twofold Political Question
11.2. The Anthropological Foundations of Religion
11.3. The Kingdom of God
11.4. The Principles of a Christian Politics
11.5. A Materialistic Theology
11.6. Hobbes’s Critique of Other Churches
12. An Excursus: Hobbes’s Critique of Aristotle
12.1. The “Vain Philosophy” of Aristotle
12.2. An Aristotelian in Spite of Himself
12.3. Inevitable Strife or the Social Nature of Man?
13. History
13.1. Translating Thucydides
13.2. The History of the Church and the Kingdom of God
13.3. Behemoth
III.
THE INFLUENCE OF HOBBES
14. From His Age to Our Own
14.1. The Early Reception and Critique of Hobbes’s Work
14.2. A Continuing Debate
14.3. The Modern Discussion
Chronology of Hobbes’s Life and Work
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index
Abbreviations

B = Behemoth
C = De Cive (= Elementa philosophiae , part III )
Co = De Corpore ( Elementa philosophiae , part I )
D = ( Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England )
E = The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic
H = De Homine (= Elementa philosophiae , part II )
L = Leviathan, or the Matter, Form and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil
Opera = Opera philosophica
Works = English Works of Thomas Hobbes
T he following editions have been used for the texts most frequently cited: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan , edited with an introduction and notes by J. C. A. Gaskin, Oxford University Press, 1996; Thomas Hobbes, The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic , edited by J. C. A. Gaskin, Oxford University Press, 1994; Thomas Hobbes, Man and Citizen ( De Homine and De Cive ), edited by B. Gert, Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis, 1991.
Citations from Leviathan (L) indicate the chapter number and the pagination of the original edition, which is included in the Gaskin edition and almost all other modern editions of the work (e.g.: L ch. 4: 12). Citations from the aforementioned editions of The Elements of Law (E) and from Man and Citizen (H and C) indicate the chapter number, followed by section number and page reference (e.g.: C ch. 1, §2, p. 110).
ONE
Introduction
Thomas Hobbes: A Pioneer of Modernity
I f the philosophy of the state, and of the nature of political authority as such, had long been a neglected, even expressly despised, area of study, there is certainly no doubt about its acute contemporary relevance. In view of an ongoing wave of wars, and particularly of civil wars and internal social conflicts, we no longer simply talk of “prosperity” or “emancipation” as the ultimate ends of political action and intervention. These ends now seem more basic and elementary, namely: peace and freedom, in immediate conjunction with the principle of justice.
The quest for a social order capable of securing such ends has now lost any suggestion of musty irrelevance. The fundamental question for any philosophy of politics—the legitimation and limitation of the public exercise of power—has emphatically passed beyond a merely antiquarian interest in intellectual history and has returned to occupy the place where it has always belonged: the center of a truly political philosophy. And Thomas Hobbes is one of the most important representatives of political philosophy in this sense.
Yet this thinker was concerned with far more than simply “the state” and the nature of law and political authority. For the body of work that Hobbes left us is essentially encyclopedic in character. This philosophy embraces an ontology and a natural philosophy; it examines the nature of language, reason, and knowledge; it investigates human feelings and emotions, and many other issues in what we would now call the philosophy of mind; and, last but not least, it engages with fundamental questions of morality and religion.
If we ignore the field of mathematics, where Hobbes occasionally lost his way (for a judicious account of his views in this respect, see Grant 1996), he addressed his chosen problems in a way that is almost always original, and indeed radical in two senses of the word. In his thorough and resolute pursuit of understanding he penetrates below the apparent surface, illuminates hidden corners of experience, and thereby opens up new perspectives that are highly challenging in both substantive and methodological terms. Hobbes is an intellectual revolutionary who undertook nothing less than a fundamental re-grounding of philosophy, one comparable in its radicality with the new beginning proposed by Descartes. But apart from the methodological significance that he assigns to mathematics—something that he shares with the French thinker—Hobbes develops an entirely different revolution in the field of philosophy. He regards the famous Cartesian argument from the cogito as fallacious, he repudiates all mind-body dualism, and he replaces ideas with nomina or names. Hobbes is an emphatic nominalist. And instead of beginning with an exercise in radical doubt, the English thinker begins by offering a radical new construction of the world.
It is, above all, in his philosophy of the state, of the nature of law and political authority, that Hobbes reveals the full originality, radicality, and consistency of his thought, engaging explicitly with principles and forms of argument (concerning the concept, grounding, and normative criteria of the state and legal authority) that have remained an object of systematic discussion to this day. In this respect too, Hobbes is still our philosophical contemporary.
In the courage that he shows in making full use of his own understanding, Hobbes can be seen as an Enlightenment thinker in the Kantian sense, and one who demands a similar courage on the part of his readers. He struggles against all superstition, derides uncritical reverence for books and supposed authorities, and subjects religious and political communities of every kind to the most thorough critical examination.
This son of an uneducated country priest (who was apparently more interested in drink and cards than in matters of theology), a university student who stoutly rejected the scholastic disputes that were common in such institutions, Hobbes sought to overcome superstition of all kinds by appeal to natural forms of explanation. He is a rigorous naturalist and an equally rigorous materialist, whose views in this regard are not merely intellectually suggestive but remain profoundly challenging. And since he was forced to engage directly with theological questions, he also developed an intimate knowledge of the Bible itself, thus becoming a notable exegete and even a significant theologian.
1.1. Three Challenges of the Epoch
In terms of cultural and intellectual