scholarly journals Social Contract: Sovereign Contracted or Created? - Comparative Analysis Between T. Hobbes and S. Pufendorf

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Eriseld Kalemaj

This paper has in its focus the notion of 'Sovereign'. The discussion will be conducted within the "School of Natural Law", which we will focus on two representatives; Thomas Hobbes and Samuel Pufendorf. Through a comparative philosophical analysis, we are going to stop on the basics, the genesis of sovereign power. Political philosophy in the context of finding the source of sovereign power is a problem in the landmark of the unsolvable. ” Scool of Natural Law” referring to the natural condition has the solution to this problem. Compare lines will start from this premise, to know after, how the reason goas towards two different concepts of “Social Contract”. Contract which generates sovreigen person, it defines the nature and content of the power of this person. At this discourse, social contract as the core hub of transition, conversion to the state of nature in a civil context is rolling between the political and juridical character. Discussion, which essentially make us know the nature of the relationship between the Sovereign and members of society, sovereign and state, the member of society between each other. In other words, we will see how the political - legal forms of organization, the way of governing is determined by the nature of initial social contract

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 97-144

As one of the first political thinkers of the modern era, Thomas Hobbes relied on his analysis of the Civil War in England to reach the conclusion that the sovereign should empower its delegates to implement a special educational policy designed to inculcate the nobility and lower classes with allegiance to the state. One of the main features of Hobbes’s program was that the sovereign power should oversee the institutions of knowledge to make sure they would not disseminate ideas that might subvert the authority of the sovereign. An equally important aspect of Hobbes’s educational design was the control of secular sovereignty over ecclesiastical institutions to ensure their loyalty to the sovereign. Hobbes assigns a special role to the English universities in his recommendations. In his historical treatise Behemoth or the Long Parliament, Hobbes places the lion’s share of the blame for the English Civil War on the universities, which he said “have been to this nation, as the wooden horse was to the Trojans.” That is why the new sovereign power after winning the Civil War needed to encourage civil peace by reforming the universities, which were “the core of rebellion.” Hobbes regarded the political doctrine of the secular sovereign’s unlimited power that he expounded in detail in Leviathan as the absolutely necessary foundation for reform. According to Hobbes, this educational policy was indispensable for indoctrinating citizens so that they would be loyal to the sovereign power in order to preserve peace in England.


2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Kersting

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.


Politics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Robin Gray

This article concerns the relationship between policy and voter elasticity on either side of the political spectrum as an explanation of the left's post-war political failure. The core contention is that left-oriented voters are more responsive to slight deviations in policy. This is used to explain partially Labour's post-war failure to dominate power even when the ‘left's vote’ was over 50 per cent.


Author(s):  
Alessandra Silveira ◽  
José Gomes André ◽  

This paper includes the exam of a Ph.D thesis about James Madison’s political philosophy, as well as the answers presented by the candidate to several criticai observations. Various themes are considered, though always surrounding Madison’s work: the peculiar characteristics of his federalism, the relationship between the idea of human nature and the elaboration of political models, the political and constitutional controversies that Madison entangled with several figures from its time (namely Alexander Hamilton), the problem of “judicial review” and the place of “constitutionality control” taken from a reflexive and institutional point of view, and other similar themes.


2000 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
James V. Schall

The relationship between philosophy, revelation, and politics is a basic intellectual theme, either at the forefront or in the background, of all political philosophy. The 1998 publication of John Paul II's encyclicalFides et Ratiooccasioned much reflection on the relation of reason and revelation. Though not directly concerned with political philosophy, this encyclical provides a welcome opportunity to address many theologicalpolitical issues that have arisen in classic and contemporary political philosophy. The argument here states in straightforward terms how philosophy and theology, as understood in the Roman Catholic tradition, can be coherently related to fundamental questions that have legitimately recurred in the works of the political philosophers.


2020 ◽  
pp. 20-73
Author(s):  
Raymond Wacks

This chapter discusses the relationship between the ancient classical theory of natural law and its application to contemporary moral questions. It considers the role of natural law in political philosophy, the decline of the theory of natural law, and its revival in the twentieth century. The principal focus is on John Finnis’s natural law theory based largely on the works of St Thomas Aquinas. The chapter posits a distinction between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ natural law, examines the notion of moral realism, and examines the tension between law and morality; and the subject of the moral dilemmas facing judges in unjust societies.


Author(s):  
Feisal G. Mohamed

A modern politics attaching itself to the state must adopt a position sovereignty, by which is meant the political settlement in which potestas and auctoritas are aligned. Three competing forms are identified: unitary sovereignty, divided and balanced sovereignty, and the view that sovereign power must be limited by universal principles. Each of these forms can be divided into “red” and “black” varieties, depending on the imagined relationship between sovereign power and modern conditions of flux. A chapter outline introduces the figures who will be explored in the book as a whole: Thomas Hobbes; William Fiennes, Lord Saye and Sele; John Barclay and the romance writers of the 1650s whom he influences; John Milton; and Andrew Marvell. Also described is the book’s sustained engagement of Carl Schmitt, and the ways in which his thought on sovereignty is an example of the competition amongst the concept’s three competing forms.


Author(s):  
Ryan Patrick Hanley

Chapter 6 turns to Fénelon’s theology, focusing on his treatment of hope and its significance for his political philosophy. It argues that he regarded hope not just as a key theological virtue, but also as a key virtue of political rulers and political reformers. Its discussion of the political implications of Fénelon’s theology proceeds in three parts. It first examines the role of hope in Telemachus. It then turns to the treatment of hope in Fénelon’s theology, focusing on three particular discussions: the place of hope in love, the relationship of hope to self-interest, and the place of hope in prayer. The final section turns to two aspects of Fénelon’s theology beyond hope which also have significant implications for his political philosophy: his understanding of the relationship of human being to divine being, and his arguments for the existence of God and their implications for universal order.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayca Arkilic ◽  
Ayse Ezgi Gurcan

Abstract This article focuses on the relationship between Alevis and the Turkish and German states. It does so by examining the Turkish Alevi Opening (2009–2010) and the German Islam Conference (2006–present), two unprecedented official platforms aimed at improving Alevis’ political participation. The study asks why such state-sponsored initiatives came into existence in Turkey and Germany, and why the German Islam Conference has proven more successful from the perspective of Alevis. It argues that even though the diffusion of EU norms and pressure from transnational advocacy networks have increased awareness regarding the Alevi issue, domestic factors have been more salient in the emergence and outcome of these initiatives in both countries.


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