scholarly journals Punishment, Property, and the Limits of Altruism: Locke's International Asymmetry

2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEX TUCKNESS
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Standard Interpretation ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Functional Equivalent ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
The Right

The standard interpretation of Locke assumes symmetry between punishment by individuals in the state of nature and punishment by states in the state of nature. The standard interpretation is incorrect because in cases where the punishment is altruistic, the state is not the functional equivalent of a person, having a more restricted power to punish. The asymmetry arises from Locke's contractualism because individuals in the state of nature might reasonably refuse to give governments the power to punish altruistically. This interpretation clarifies some ongoing puzzles about Locke's theory of property where questions about coerced sacrifices to benefit others also arise. Locke's argument is vulnerable to important objections, specifically that he equivocates on the meaning of the word “body,” that he places too much emphasis on the right of self-preservation, and that he legitimates nearly unlimited appropriation by states.

Leviathan No More: The Right of Nature and the Limits of Sovereignty in Hobbes

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Hallenbrook
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Natural Right ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Political Work ◽  
The Right

AbstractThis article challenges the prevailing interpretations of Hobbes's thought as providing only minimal protection for the natural right of individuals in political society. Natural right requires the protection of not just the subjects' lives, but their ability to live commodiously, and as a result the protection that natural right receives in political society places substantive constraints on the actions of the sovereign. When those entrusted with sovereign power overstep this constraint, they cease to be sovereign and the former subjects are returned to the state of nature to seek protection as each judges fit. I develop the substance of commodious living more thoroughly than similar analyses and demonstrate that this understanding is not limited to Leviathan but can be found in Hobbes's earlier political work as well.

scholarly journals THE CONCEPT OF THE POLITICAL IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS HOBBES

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-396
Author(s):  
Bachuki Tsanava ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Political Condition ◽  
Rational Deliberation ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right

The article is devoted to the concept of the political in the philosophy of English thinker Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). The author points out the key concepts for understanding the concept of the political in Hobbes’s philosophy, such as the method of his philosophy, anthropological views, and the idea of the state of nature. The author describes the philosopher’s thought path toward the concept of the political, beginning from his attempt to overcome the shortcomings of contemporary philosophy and the desire to create a science of politics, based on rational deliberation. Hobbes contrasts elocution with his method of searching for political truth based on reason because there is more harm than good done to the state by elocution. In the hands of selfish and vain individuals, elocution turns into an instrument for achieving personal goals rather than the common good. Hobbes’s anthropological views allow him to describe all the horror and injustice in the state of nature, in which any selfish, but reasonable person, using the right method will come to the idea of the need to establish a state. The author notes that the concepts of vanity and fear occupied a particularly important place in Hobbes’s philosophy, since they are the reasons for the collapse and creation of states. Thus, the concept of the political in Hobbes’s philosophy is inseparable from deliberation based on reason, since without it selfish individuals cannot hear the voice of reason, establish the Leviathan, and proceed to the political condition. The social con- tract, obtained as a result of rational deliberation of egoistic individuals, represents the pinnacle of the political because neither the political condition nor citizens existed before it.

The Turn to Self-Defense

2019 ◽  
pp. 217-273
Author(s):  
Mark Somos
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
New England ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
The State ◽  
Natural Community ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Previous Discussion ◽  
The Right ◽  
American State

This chapter shows that as tensions escalated in the early 1770s, the colonists drew on the increasingly coherent view of the American state of nature to claim the collective right to self-defense. Moderates and loyalists vehemently contested revolutionary state of nature arguments for a natural community of American settlers separate from Britain and for their right to self-defense. New England Christians supplied a pluriform, but distinct and influential, revolutionary strand of state of nature interpretation, complete with the right to resist, the right to change government, and a collective identity, all grounded in a Christian state of nature. The chapter ends by illustrating the range of political economy theories of the state of nature that were relevant to understanding and debating the rising tension between the metropolis and the colonies, and a continuation of the previous discussion of rival loyalist and patriot interpretations of the state of nature.

Democratic Sovereignty

Dialogue ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-589
Author(s):  
Don Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
The State ◽  
The Real ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Right

It is nearly ten years since Quebec held its referendum on Sovereignty Association and time, perhaps, for a retrospective. There were winners and losers in 1980, but the real winner may have been the idea that sovereignty may be established democratically. Governments, of course, are quick to agree that people have the right to determine their sovereignty democratically—so long as this takes place in the State of Nature invented by Hobbes for just such august occasions. Only thrice to my knowledge, however, have governments actually allowed anything even remotely close to a social contract, once in Norway in 1905, once in Wales in 1979 and again in Quebec in 1980.

Creating and Contesting the American State of Nature

2019 ◽  
pp. 159-217
Author(s):  
Mark Somos
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
The State ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Natural Community ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Press ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Right

Chapter 5 describes the contestation and consolidation of this trope, and the beginning of its transformation from a vindication of protest into the foundation of an American natural community. Illustrating the close relationship between English-language state of nature texts on both sides of the Atlantic, the chapter follows the rapid expansion of the state of nature discourse to constitutional issues such as the freedom of conscience and opinion, the freedom of speech and of the press, secession, the right to meaningful representation, and the relevance or irrelevance of rights guaranteed under competing versions of a semi-mythical ancient constitutionalism. The chapter carries previous analyses of rival loyalist and patriot interpretations of the state of nature on to these topics.

The Terror of Invulnerability

2021 ◽  
pp. 78-82
Author(s):  
Rahul Rao
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
The State ◽  
Colonial Modernity ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Right

THE IDEA OF a world without vulnerability is an oddly terrifying prospect. Perhaps ‘prospect’ isn’t quite the right word because politics in colonial modernity has long taken the form of seeking escape from vulnerability in ways that displace it on to others. We might think of the state of nature as a fabled representation of severe and widespread vulnerability in which, prior to the establishment of a social contract, every individual is vulnerable to attack from every other. The establishment of the state, while theoretically eliminating the vulnerability of individuals ...

Hobbes, Kant, and the Universal ‘right to all things’, or Why We Have to Leave the State of Nature

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-70
Author(s):  
Daniel Eggers
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Logical Contradiction ◽  
The Right

This paper discusses the juridical interpretation of Hobbes’s state of nature argument, which has been defended by commentators such as Georg Geismann, Dieter Hüning or Peter Schröder. According to the juridical interpretation, the primary reason why the Hobbesian state of nature needs to be abandoned is not that everybody’s self-preservation is constantly threatened. It is that, due to the universal right to all things, the jural order of the state of nature includes some kind of logical contradiction. The purpose of the paper is to show that the juridical interpretation does not do justice to Hobbes’s actual argument and that it starts from a false presupposition: being a Hohfeldian ‘liberty-right’, the right to all things can consistently be granted to all individuals at the same time.

The Symmetry Enigma in Hobbes

Dialogue ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishtiyaque Haji
Keyword(s):  
Prisoner's Dilemma ◽  
Prisoner’S Dilemma ◽  
The State ◽  
Mutual Trust ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Do So

Gregory Kavka has recently highlighted, and attempted resolution of, a possible problem with Hobbes's views on state-of-nature co-operation. The problem, having to do with whether it is rational to abide by one's agreements in what appear to be prisoner's dilemma (PD) or PD-like situations, can provisionally be summarized in this way: A covenant of mutual trust is an agreement in which both parties are required to discharge their covenantal obligation, in sequence, at some time after the contract is made (WM,3,14,120–121,124). Hobbes seems to affirm that it is not rational in the state of nature for covenant-parties who have to perform first—first-parties—to keep their agreements, although it is rational for second-parties to do so if first-parties have already performed. These views on the rationality of contract-keeping generate the symmetry enigma: precisely what is the asymmetry between the situations of first-parties and second-parties in the state of nature that makes it irrational for first-parties to do the cooperative thing but rational for second-parties to do so?

Metodologi Pengeluaran Fatwa di Jawatankuasa Fatwa Negeri Johor

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-88
Author(s):  
Mohd Faez Mohd Shah ◽  
Norhidayah Pauzi
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Field Research ◽  
The State ◽  
Original Source ◽  
Interview Methods ◽  
The Right

In the discipline of Islamic law research, strong proofing and clear Istinbat method are key pillars in the construction of Islamic law based on the application of the science of usul al-fiqh and maqasid al-shari'ah. However, what happens at the state of Johor’s fatwa institution is the opposite. The fatwa research methods applied by the Fatwa Committee of Johor in resolving current fatwa issues is not based on the right and true discipline of Islamic law research. In fact, current inputs related to fatwa issues are not explicitly stated in the method of determining the law either in the form of reality or scientifically verified. Therefore, this paper will discuss the fatwa procedures undertaken by the Fatwa Committee of Johor based on the methods applied in resolving current issues. The research methodology adopted is library and interview methods. This study shows that fatwa management and production in the state of Johor is placed under the jurisdiction of the Mufti of Johor’s Department. The methods adopted by the Fatwa Committee of Johor covers two methods, namely: internal research methods including literature review through the application of original source and proofs based on syarak. Second: field research method that includes an external review or going to the location of study such as conducting observation, questionnaires and interviews including referrals to specialists of different fields. Maslahah and mafsdah consideration are also implemented by the Fatwa Committee in every fatwa decision based on the standard that meets the interests of maqasid al-shari'ah. Keywords: Metode, fatwa, istinbat, usul al-fiqh, maqasid al-shari’ah ABSTRAK Dalam disiplin penyelidikan hukum Islam, kekuatan pendalilan dan kaedah istinbat yang jelas merupakan tunggak utama dalam pembinaan hukum Islam berasaskan kepada aplikasi ilmu usul al-fiqh dan maqasid al-shari’ah. Namun begitu, apa yang berlaku di institusi fatwa negeri Johor adalah sebaliknya. Kaedah penyelidikan fatwa yang diaplikasi oleh Jawatankuasa Fatwa Negeri Johor dalam menyelesaikan isu fatwa semasa tidak berasaskan kepada disiplin penyelidikan hukum Islam yang tepat dan sebenar. Malahan input-input semasa yang berkaitan dengan isu fatwa juga tidak dinyatakan secara jelas dalam kaedah penentuan hukum sama ada dalam bentuk realiti yang berlaku atau pembuktian secara saintifik. Justeru, kertas kerja ini akan membincangkan prosedur fatwa Jawatankuasa Fatwa Negeri Johor berdasarkan metode-metode yang diaplikasi dalam menyelesaikan isu-isu yang bersifat semasa. Metodologi kajian yang digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah melalui metode perpustakaan dan metode lapangan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa pengurusan dan pengeluaran fatwa di negeri Johor hanya terletak di bawah bidang kuasa Jabatan Mufti Johor. Metode fatwa yang diamalkan oleh Jawatankuasa Fatwa Negeri Johor merangkumi dua metode iaitu pertama, kaedah penyelidikan dalaman yang merangkumi kajian kepustakaan menerusi pengaplikasian dari sumber asas dan dalil-dalil syarak. Kedua, kaedah penyelidikan lapangan yang meliputi kajian luaran atau turun ke lokasi kajian seperti observasi, soal selidik dan temubual dan rujukan kepada pakar dalam bidang yang berlainan. Pertimbangan maslahah dan mafsdah juga dimplementasikan oleh Jawatankuasa Fatwa dalam setiap keputusan fatwanya berasaskan standard yang menepati kepentingan maqasid al-shari’ah. Kata kunci: Metode, fatwa, istinbat, usul al-fiqh, maqasid al-shari’ah

Implications

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Widerquist ◽  
Grant S. McCall
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
The State ◽  
Natural Property ◽  
Government Failure ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Best Response ◽  
Lockean Proviso ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Taking Action ◽  
Disadvantaged People

Earlier chapters of this book found that the Hobbesian hypothesis is false; the Lockean proviso is unfulfilled; contemporary states and property rights systems fail to meet the standard that social contract and natural property rights theories require for their justification. This chapter assesses the implications of those findings for the two theories. Section 1 argues that, whether contractarians accept or reject these findings, they need to clarify their argument to remove equivocation. Section 2 invites efforts to refute this book’s empirical findings. Section 3 discusses a response open only to property rights theorists: concede this book’s empirical findings and blame government failure. Section 4 considers the argument that this book misidentifies the state of nature. Section 5 considers a “bracketing strategy,” which admits that observed stateless societies fit the definition of the state of nature, but argues that they are not the relevant forms of statelessness today. Section 6 discusses the implications of accepting both the truth and relevance of the book’s findings, concluding that the best response is to fulfil the Lockean proviso by taking action to improve the lives of disadvantaged people.

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