The Opinion of Mankind : Sociability and the Theory of the State from Hobbes to Smith / Paul Sagar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sagar, Paul, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--History.

Political science.

State, The.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (250 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

How David Hume and Adam Smith forged a new way of thinking about the modern state. What is the modern state? Conspicuously undertheorized in recent political theory, this question persistently animated the best minds of the Enlightenment. Recovering David Hume and Adam Smith's long-underappreciated contributions to the history of political thought, The Opinion of Mankind considers how, following Thomas Hobbes's epochal intervention in the mid-seventeenth century, subsequent thinkers grappled with explaining how the state came into being, what it fundamentally might be, and how it could claim rightful authority over those subject to its power. Hobbes has cast a long shadow over Western political thought, particularly regarding the theory of the state. This book shows how Hume and Smith, the two leading lights of the Scottish Enlightenment, forged an alternative way of thinking about the organization of modern politics. They did this in part by going back to the foundations: rejecting Hobbes's vision of human nature and his arguments about our capacity to form stable societies over time. In turn, this was harnessed to a deep reconceptualization of how to think philosophically about politics in a secular world. The result was an emphasis on the "opinion of mankind," the necessary psychological basis of all political organization. Demonstrating how Hume and Smith broke away from Hobbesian state theory, The Opinion of Mankind also suggests ways in which these thinkers might shape how we think about politics today, and in turn how we might construct better political theory.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. Sociability

Chapter 2. History And The Family

Chapter 3. The State Without Sovereignty

Chapter 4. Rousseau's Return To Hobbes

Chapter 5. Adam Smith's Political Theory Of Opinion

Chapter 6. Alternatives And Applications

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2018.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9781400889808

1400889804

OCLC:

1017932036