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 Right to Be Punished: Autonomy and Its Demise in Modern Penal Thought

1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Dirk Dubber
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Rational Deliberation ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Life Plans ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
Ordinary Person ◽  
The Right

The Enlightenment was the age of empathy and abstract identity. The common man no longer was to be pitied for his unfortunate plight. Instead, enlightened gentlemen and reformers strove to empathize with the ordinary person—identify with him—precisely because he was identical to them in some fundamental sense. That sense differed from Enlightenment theory to theory, but the identity remained central. So Bentham insisted that every member of the utility community was like any other because every member's pain and joy equally affected the utilitarian calculus and thus the common good. Contractarians like Beccaria or Fichte portrayed all citizens as identical insofar as they were all signatories to the social contract, a contract grounded in the shared rationality of its signatories who surrendered some of their external freedom to pursue their life plans protected from the chaos of the law of nature. And Kant and Hegel stressed the common capacity for rational deliberation shared by all humans as rational beings.

Rousseau’s Return to Hobbes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sagar
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Opposite Direction ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Social

This chapter examines the issue of sociability and the theory of the state with regard to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. More specifically, it considers Rousseau's intervention in the debate over human sociability, mainly in The Discourse on Inequality, and how it ultimately led in the opposite direction to that pointed out by David Hume: back to Thomas Hobbes. The chapter begins with a discussion of Rousseau's idea of the state of nature as well as the views of Rousseau and Hume on pity, justice, property, and deception. It then analyzes Rousseau's The Social Contract, an exercise in full-blooded Hobbesian sovereignty theory, and his attempt to start from a different place in the theory of sociability, and then offer a purposefully counter-Hobbesian theory of sovereignty. The chapter argues that Rousseau ultimately could not get past Hobbes, and ended up returning to the latter's positions.

scholarly journals Hobbes in the Anthropocene: Reconsidering the State of Nature in Its Relevance for Governing

2021 ◽  
pp. 030437542110086
Author(s):  
Maximilian Lakitsch
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Accountability ◽  
Internal Dynamics ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Political Modernity

The theoretical work of Thomas Hobbes marks the dawn of political modernity and thus also the beginning of modern reasoning about governing. In his Leviathan, Hobbes creates the modern space of the political through the exclusion of the world’s social and natural abundance. This crossroads of political thinking might not least be of relevance for the Anthropocene. After all, affirming the Anthropocene returns mankind to a cosmos of infinite human–nature interrelationships, which strongly resembles Hobbes’s conceptual depiction of the premodern state of nature and its incomprehensible, contingent, and precarious world, a world that Hobbes had intended to ban for good. In this context, this article reconsiders the state of nature’s internal dynamics in its relevance for governing in the Anthropocene—at the expense of the normative claims of modernist governing. After all, embracing the complex ontologies of the Anthropocene and the state of nature disperses agency among the human and nonhuman world, which questions the idea of ethical and political accountability. Without such a reference, governing runs the risk of becoming arbitrary and thereby another shallow projection of modernist conceptions. This article develops an interpretation of political subjectivity as a reference for governing, deriving from the materialistic world of the Hobbesian state of nature. On this foundation, the article elaborates on how this reading of subjectivity reconfigures the conception of political space and how this shift affects the scope of governing.

INSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONALITY OF THE ENDOGENIZATION OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

2018 ◽  
pp. 145-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeriy Heyets
Keyword(s):  
Social Space ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Centralized Management ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Right

At the end of the XXth century, in the countries of the former socialist camp, the capitalist reforms of the fundamental content of the principles of ensuring the right to liberty were carried out, including the economic one, that was realized in accordance with the existence and protection of the rights for a private property. This choice was made because there was a fundamental desire to overcome the dependence on the leadership of the political sovereign, which, in fact, ensured the receipt of «rents» through the implementation of a centralized management system on a planning and distribution basis, restraining the desire to gain freedom by providing opportunities for self-realization. In place of the ideology of the political «sovereign», the new ways of human activity coordination had to come, based on the principles of the ideology of liberalism. At the initial stages of reforms, the problems of institutionalization of activity of both the state and business, remained out of attention, since freedom was «above all».Capitalism, that develops without control and restrictions, is guided by a single criterion - by the private interest of the strongest and remains hostile to any form of public interest of the majority. At the same time, the development of the social institutions requires the formation of an institutional space for the implementation of the civic initiatives and the protection of freedoms from the manifestations of power and the weakly controlled monopoly organized business in the limitation of the civic activity. For this reason, in the process of development of society, the state should establish the long-term social mechanisms not only to consolidate the new spirit of capitalization and further economic growth, but also development through the social mechanisms of the social space that will not break, but will stabilize the society on the basis of the social values.

scholarly journals The Emergence of Civil Society in Hobbesian Philosophy

Jurnal Office ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Edor John Edor
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Social

The origin of the modern state has left many scholars intellectually engaged. Sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, jurists, anthropologists, and philosophers have variously grappled with the issue of the origin of the state. Thomas Hobbes is one of the great thinkers who has contributed to the discussion on the origin of the state. Thomas Hobbes is of the view that naturally, that is, man in the state of nature, is a-social, atavistically thinking about himself alone. Because of this atomistic and solitary disposition of man in the state of nature, the society was accentuated by an unprecedented degree of rancor, acrimony and obfuscation. Given this picture of man and the pre-civil-society depicted by Hobbes, one would feel that justifying the emergence of the civil society would become difficult. This paper examines how Hobbes migrated man from the state of nature to the civil society in spite of the gory picture of him he had painted. Thomas Hobbes’ theory of the origin of the state is categorized in the class of the social contract theories. 

Kościół katolicki wobec parlamentaryzmu II Rzeczypospolitej na przykładzie nauczania społecznego kardynała Stefana Adama Sapiehy

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-206
Author(s):  
Mateusz Kępa
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Common Good ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Pluralism ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Catholic Church

The purpose of this article is to describe the relationship between parliamentarism and the social teaching of the Catholic Church, with a special emphasis on pastoral, social and political activities of cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha. The system of parliamentary government is a system of government in which the legislative authority in the form of parliament passes laws and controls the executive authority, which is wielded by the president together with the government. An important aspect of this system of government is the interpenetration of these two authorities and their mutual complementing, which is evident even in the possibility of bringing forward bills by the executive. The view of the parliamentary system held by cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha was based on the social attitude which was represented by the Christian Democrats. The political system accepted by the Christian Democrats was democracy, which very clearly demonstrates all positive forms of local government’s actions and the principle of subsidiarity. The basis of this assumption is that it is on the lowest levels of society where the common good based on social solidarity can be realized. The Archbishop of Krakow perceived the political, social and economic issues through the prism of the Catholic Church. He believed that the task of the state is to protect society against the moral decay of anti-Christian totalitarian systems. According to Sapieha, the state should act as a servant in relation to the nation. The Metropolitan claimed also that the vision of the relationship between social ranks, contrary to the socialist vision, was not burdened with a conflict. Sapieha saw the danger of drastic social inequality, but definitely spoke out against socialist and communist solutions. The cardinal emphasized the accent which should be laid on the development of all forms of civic government. So the ideal state is a decentralized state, in which citizens, due to rights and activities taken up by themselves, have an influence over the governments. According to Sapieha, a democratic state of law should respect political pluralism based on the principle of subsidiarity and justice, as well as sovereignty, and above all – the principle of parliamentary majority.

scholarly journals The The Social Contract Theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke: Comparative Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-45
Author(s):  
John Michael V Sasan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Social ◽  
Similarities And Differences

This study engages in the concept of social contract of Hobbes and Locke, and the similarities and differences of their ideas. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both begin their political ideas with a discussion on the state of nature and the danger of living outside the community. For Thomas Hobbes, the state of nature is chaotic; it is in the state of mutual competition. He claims that the state of nature is a state of war, every man against everybody. Due to a constant competition for power and reputation, the man’s equality leads the state of nature into chaos. Man who is bestowed with equal capacities for thinking and reasoning is moved by whatever he wants for survival and preservation no matter what it takes. This state of nature, according to Thomas Hobbes, is a state of egoistic self-preservation and necessity for survival. Meanwhile, John Locke is rather optimistic in his view in the state of nature, compared to the pessimistic view of Thomas Hobbes. He sees humans as decent species which are capable of knowing what is right and wrong. Although man in the state of nature lives with full freedom, yet he is still at risk of harm and invasion. The property is very unsafe and unsecure, however, free yet full of fears. On this matter, man realizes and decides to create a contract and agree to the terms for peaceful and secure life for the safe and security of their liberty and possession. Furthermore, for Thomas Hobbes, social contract is a mutual transferring of rights to the sovereign. For him, social contract is responsible for the morality and the conception of right and wrong, just and unjust. Hence, social contract is very significant to every individual because it is the source of law and regulations and basis of morality. For Locke, the chief reason why man in creating an agreement or contract is the property. The main argument is Locke’s social contract.

Some Thoughts on Civil Society in Eastern Europe and the Lockean Contractarian Approach

1987 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 573-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Rau
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Special Form ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Character ◽  
Totalitarian State

Neither the concept of the totalitarian system nor the newly worked-out notion of ‘socialist civil society’ can express the social and political phenomenon of the rise and growth of independent groups and movements in Eastern Europe. Rather, it is suggested here that the Lockean contractarian approach should be used. This embraces mutually interacting ethical, empirical and analytic arguments which would take into consideration the state, the independent groups organized outside it, and the relationships between them. The utility of the model of the totalitarian state in understanding the origin of independent groups is discussed here. Lockean multidimensional individualism is suggested as a category expressing the political character of these groups, and Lockean teaching on absolute monarchy—a special form of the state of nature—is advanced as the means for analysing the relationship between these groups and the state of the Soviet type.

scholarly journals Potência de ação e ordem: o poder e a razão segundo Nicolau Maquiavel e Thomas Hobbes

2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Kersting
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Second Moment ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
First Moment ◽  
The Relationship

O autor apresenta aborda, primeiramente, a relação entre poder e razão no pensamento político de Maquiavel. Num segundo momento, apresenta, no pensamento de Hobbes, a trajetória que se estende da razão impotente do estado de natureza até à razão poderosa do Estado, dispensador de segurança. PALAVRAS-CHAVE – Maquiavel. Hobbes. Poder. Razão. ABSTRACT The author analyses in a first moment the relationship between power and reason in the political thought of Machiavelli. In a second moment, he exposes, according to Hobbes’s political philosophy, the path to be gone through from the powerless reason of the state of nature towards the powerful reason of the State, which grants security. KEY WORDS – Machiavelli. Hobbes. Power. Reason.

scholarly journals Hobbes’s Theory of State

1970 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-203
Author(s):  
Jarosław Charchuła
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
Comprehensive System ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Human Motivation ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Social

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 within 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.

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