NATURAL SCIENCE AND ANTROPOLOGHY IN HOBBES' POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

2008

This study mainly investigates the reason of living in civil society, the motives of people to live under the government and necessity of commonwealth by design to live in peace based on modern social contract theories of Hobbes and Locke. Hobbes has a decisive role for developing a western political thought and Locke goes a step further to put superiority of the community and latitude of thought in his theory. In order to examine these topics, similarities of both philosophers in terms of their effort on setting free political thoughts from medieval world view, and their differentiations regarding considerations on human nature, desires and rights of men, formation of the society and the role of government are focused on.M.S. - Master of Scienc

This paper takes as its starting point Hobbes’s first European grand tour, which the future philosopher and his pupil William Cavendish II made together during 1614-15. On this tour, while in Venice they met Fulgenzio Micanzio, and probably also the famous Servite friar Paolo Sarpi, ‘consultore in iure’ of the Venetian Republic. Hobbes scholars point to the similarities between some political and theological-political doctrines of Sarpi and Hobbes, but this paper focuses on the two writers’ natural philosophy, showing the analogies linking them. Firstly, the two thinkers have the same conception of the different epistemological status that separates mathematics (conventional and aprioristic) from the physical sciences (in which knowledge acquired can only be hypothetical and conjectural). However, the correlations also involve the genesis of human knowledge: in both authors we find the same model, which starts from the action of an external object on the senses of perception, to reach the ‘‘universals’’ which are none other than names: all objects that occupy space in the natural world are bodies, and the entire physical world must be interpreted solely in materialistic terms of matter and local motion. Finally, the two thinkers make the same effort, although to different extents, to adapt the Aristotelian vocabulary to the exigencies of a new natural philosophy, which contemplates the world as simply a mechanical system; thus they leave behind them the Aristotelian physics, founded on qualities and other concepts of the Aristotelian tradition.

Forum Philosophicum, 2010

Thomas Hobbes bequeathed to us a comprehensive system, the interpretation of which remains a matter of disagreement even today. In his political theory, he pays most attention to the state community. He deliberates over the reasons for its origin, its decline and fall. Among the more detailed issues dealt with in his reflections, the more important ones are the following: the concept of the state of nature, human motivation, the state of war and peace, as well as considerations concerning the social contract. In order to be consistent in his argument, Hobbes also deals with the analysis of the structures of the state, the division of power and with the functions a state should perform. Due to these deliberations, he finally arrives at the secret of the state's durability. Though it is certainly the case that, since his times, the socio-political situation and circumstances have changed, many of the solutions postulated by Hobbes have not lost their value.

Hobbes Studies, 2017

Hobbes considered as unambiguous and unproblematic his demonstration in "De Corpore" that every effect past, present or future is necessary, since it always requires a sufficient cause that cannot be sufficient without being necessary, so that nothing is possible which will not be actual at some time. Now, this approach to necessity and possibility was received by his contemporary readers as missing its aim. Two immediate criticisms of "De Corpore" by Moranus and Ward exhibit from this viewpoint an interesting difference as to their common argument that only hypothetical necessity can result from Hobbes's premises. My essay relates this argumentative difference to the absence (Moranus) or presence (Ward) in the background of the free-will dispute between Hobbes and Bramhall. From there, I examine also different interpretations of the 'hypothetical necessity-argument' in the indirect critical reception of "De Corpore", when the target is Hobbes's necessitarianism in the controversy with Bramhall, based on significant material from his "De Corpore" project. Remarkably, although Leibniz agrees with Bramhall that Hobbes only proves a hypothetical necessity, Leibniz's understanding of hypothetical necessity is not that of Bramhall. Another striking difference is displayed in the use of the 'hypothetical necessity-argument' by More, which as it were blurs the connection of the free-will issue with Hobbes's general doctrine of causality.

Anthropological Measurements of Philosophical Research, 2020

Purpose. The purpose of the study lies in critical reconstruction of Thomas Hobbes's social contract theory as an important principle not only of modern political anthropology, but also of modern and postmodern social projects. As well as, in the unfolding of the fundamentally important both for the newest social-philosophical and philosophical-anthropological discourses of the thesis that each individual is the origin of both personal and institutional freedom and justice, making the contract first of all with himself, with his desires and sorrows and then with other people and the state. Theoretical basis. The principle of social contract offered by Hobbes became a new social, methodologically significant and relevant principle of regulation of activity, which indicates essential for the modern political philosophy and the philosophy of law transition from teleological (ancient and medieval) to legal (modern) ideas of justice. For an in-depth study of the philosophical and anthropological aspects of Hobbes's contractualism, we used the historical-comparative and contextualization method, as well as the works of leading native and foreign researchers of Hobbes, who uphold the provisions on the organic affiliation of fundamental sociophilosophical and philosophical-anthropological questions about the nature of man, the relation of coercion, freedom and justice with the discourse of social contract. Originality. On the basis of a consistent analysis of the anthropological component of Hobbes's theory of social contract, an in-depth understanding of modern contractualism and contemporary discussions in the field of its existential and anthropological component is offered, as well as the thesis that political anthropology is the core of the philosophical anthropology because it makes possible the methodologically important understanding of the basic problems of human existence-the interaction of justice and freedom, self-interest and public good, as well as it quite clearly outlines the ways to overcome the dilemmas of liberalism and communitarianism, individualism and holism. Conclusions. Political anthropology of T. Hobbes constructed in the context of a modern social project, justified the issue of interaction between freedom and justice, which is fundamentally important to nowadays, through the search for such a way of social relations, in which an individual, being in the realm of social existence, would seek to limit his own selfishness and freedom for the sake of the common will of the majority. Thanks to Hobbes, the idea of external humility in disobedience to the inner, of freedom of conscience as a "human and citizen", of an understanding of individual independence, which is not just a permissible but accepted by state power, has been acquired with exceptional theoretical and practical meaning. Thanks to Hobbes's works, the essence (and the falsity of simplified interpretations of the latter's heritage) was revealed by the relationship between the cooperative and the conflicted vision of man.

The purpose of this article is to analyse Hobbes's understanding of democracy. The first part of the article analyses the role of democracy in the social contract. It aims to show how there exists a democratic element at the beginning of the process of social contract, in which the multitude is transformed into a people. However, after the first social contract is made, Hobbes aims to reduce the power of the people by leading the process of social contract on to another level, on which the power of the people is assigned to a representative of the sovereign power, for example a monarch. The second part of the article aims to explain the practical reasons, provided by Hobbes in different parts of his political theory, for his aversion to a democratic form of government. Main reason for this, it is argued, is that democratic government is closest to the unwanted multitude. Thus, in his political theory Hobbes uses democracy to build sovereign power, but does not trust it as a form of government. RESUMEN El propósito de este artículo es analizar la comprensión de Hobbes de la democracia. La primera parte del artículo analiza el papel de la democracia en el contrato social. Su objetivo es mostrar cómo existe un elemento democrático al comienzo del proceso de contrato social, en el que la multitud se transforma en pueblo. Sin embargo, después de que se realiza el primer contrato social, Hobbes pretende reducir el poder del pueblo dirigiendo el proceso del contrato social a otro nivel, en el cual

Journal of Humanities and Education Development (JHED), 2020

The state of nature of Hobbes is like a reflection of the depression of 1640s that prevailed in the United Kingdom. The basic concept that determines the state of nature is individuality. This phenomenon is the expression of individuality, the beginning of Renaissance but not of full competence, of expressing individuality, liberating oneself from doctrinal teachings and medieval conceptions. According to Hobbes, human beings are individuals who have the desire and choice to choose. The person's ability to use his will and preference determines his happiness or unhappiness. The emotions of feeling, fear, desire etc. which are the basic characteristics of human life, are not merely physical and factual phenomenon, but a moral phenomenon that becomes evident by loving, enjoying or disliking, desiring or avoiding oneself. For Hobbes, human life is competition and struggle. As a creature that thinks of the future, human beings are constantly struggling to secure their future ambitions. It is the basic survival condition of a person that wants to be sovereign. It is inevitable that people who are equal in terms of physical and mental force will fight everyone in natural condition. This paper tries to elucidate Thomas Hobbes' understandings of the concepts of philosophy, state and state of nature. This article will further try to shed light on the Thomas Hobbes's views on International Relations.

Hobbes Studies, 2013

The relationships between politics and religion have always been the focus of Hobbesian literature, which generally privileges the theme of the Christian State, i.e. the union of temporal and spiritual power in a sovereign-representative person. This essay presents other perspectives of interpretation, which analyze the relationships between politics and religion in Hobbes’ works by using specifically metaphysical and theological categories – liberty/ necessity, causality, kingdom of God, divine prescience, potentia Dei etc. – which allow us to reconsider the nature of political power (and the relevance of modern technology for the contemporary politics). The core of Hobbes’ argumentation concerns the theoretical status of determinism (i.e. the relationships between liberty and necessity) with regard to the reduction of «potentia» to «potestas» not only in political philosophy, but also in metaphysics and theology. In many passages of Hobbes’ works, then, it is possible to understand the role of God’s idea in the natural and political philosophy: God’s idea as first cause or as omnipotence is only a reassuring word useful to describe the necessary, mechanical and eternal movement of the bodies and useful to justify the materialistic determinism in anthropology and politics. Body and movement are the necessary fundaments of the universe which find in itself - without reference to the category of «possibility» in politics and in physics - the motives and the reasons of his own structure and function (from causes to effects).

Ultimate Reality and Meaning