Thomas Hobbes / Otfried Höffe ; translated by Nicholas Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Höffe, Otfried, author.

Contributor:

Walker, Nicholas, translator.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political scientists--Great Britain--Biography.

Political scientists.

Philosophers--Great Britain--Biography.

Philosophers.

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.

Hobbes, Thomas.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (270 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : SUNY Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

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 Philosophy4.2. 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 Passions7.1. 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 Commands10.4. 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 God13.3. 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

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438457673

1438457677

OCLC:

921143431