The Theoretical Function of Democracy in Spinoza and Hobbes

2020 ◽  
pp. 307-318
Author(s):  
Alexandre Matheron
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Theoretical Function ◽  
Do So

In this chapter, Matheron examines the theoretical role played by an appeal to democracy in the political philosophy of Spinoza and Hobbes. The concern is thus not their respective theories of democracy, but rather who references to democracy undergird the theoretical legitimacy of all forms of political sovereignty. For Hobbes’s part, his thinking evolves from first arguing that other forms of sovereignty derive their absolute character from their being derived from democracy to the position that other forms of sovereignty are not derived from democracy, but nonetheless are constituted and the same way, ensuring they remain absolute. Spinoza, for his part, move from this latter position to the claim that all other forms of sovereignty are derived from democracy and therefore are never absolute. For Spinoza, right is coextensive with power, which in turn means that the ‘transfer’ of power from the multitude to a sovereign is never carried out once and for all, but rather is carried out at each moment, leaving open the possibility that the multitude could overturn the sovereign to the precise extent that they have the power to do so.

scholarly journals Sovereignty and Democracy in Global Times: acutality of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Political Philosophy and the limits of the social contract

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Marcus Baccega
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Capital ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Jean Bodin ◽  
The Social ◽  
Isidore Of Seville ◽  
The Republic

SOBERANIA E DEMOCRACIA EM TEMPOS MUNDIALIZADOS: ATUALIDADE DA FILOSOFIA POLÍTICA DE JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU E OS LIMITES DO CONTRATO SOCIAL Resumo: este artigo visa a problematizar os (des)caminhos dos conceitos políticos e das práticas sociais e jurídicas em torno da soberania política do Estado Nacional e da democracia nos tempos de mundialização do Capital. Portanto, revisita e percorre uma breve arqueologia conceitual da Soberania, desde Isidoro de Sevilha até a clássica definição de Jean Bodin nos Seis Livros sobre a República (1576). O propósito é problematizar a filosofia política de Rousseau para, então, perceber e discutir seus limites suas virtualidades, bem como a atualidade de sua noção de Contrato Social e o papel da Filosofia Política na Era do Capital Global. Palavras-chave: Rousseau. Soberania. Mundialização do Capital. Abstract: this paper casts doubt on the ways and shunts of political concepts and social and legal practices concerning political sovereignty of the Nation State and democracy at the time of Capital’s globalization. It revisits a brief conceptual archeology of Sovereignty, since Isidore of Seville to the classical definition by Jean Bodin in The Six Books on the Republic (1576). The purpose is casting doubt on the political philosophy of Rousseau, in order to discuss its limits and virtualities, and the topicality of his notion of social contract and the role of Political Philosophy at the Age of Global Capital. Keywords: Rousseau. Sovereignty. Globalization of Capital.

The Political Philosophy of Biological Endowments: Some Considerations

1987 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Rosenberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Significance ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Gains And Losses ◽  
Do So

Is a government required or permitted to redistribute the gains and losses that differences in biological endowments generate? In particular, does the fact that individuals possess different biological endowments lead to unfair advantages within a market economy? These are questions on which some people are apt to have strong intuitions and ready arguments. Egalitarians may say yes and argue that as unearned, undeserved advantages and disadvantages, biological endowments are never fair, and that the market simply exacerbates these inequities. Libertarians may say no, holding that the possession of such endowments deprives no one of an entitlement and that any system but a market would deprive agents of the rights to their endowments. Biological endowments may well lead to advantages or disadvantages on their view, but not to unfair ones.I do not have strong intuitions about answers to these questions, in part because I believe that they are questions of great difficulty. To begin, alternative answers rest on substantial assumptions in moral philosophy that seem insufficiently grounded. Moreover, the questions involve several problematical assumptions about the nature of biological endowments. Finally, I find the questions to be academic, in the pejorative sense of this term. For aside from a number of highly debilitating endowments, the overall moral significance of differences between people seems so small, so I interdependent and so hard to measure, that these differences really will 1 not enter into practical redistributive calculations, even if it is theoretically i permissible that they do so.Before turning to a detailed discussion of biological endowments and their moral significance, I sketch my doubts about the fundamental moral theories that dictate either the impermissibility or the obligation to compensate for different biological endowments.

Kant's Rhetoric of Enlightenment

1997 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Rhetorical Strategy ◽  
Government Grants ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Purpose ◽  
The University ◽  
Do So

This article examines Kant'sWhat is Enlightenment?andThe Conflict of the Facultieswith a view to recovering certain neglected aspects of his defense of freedom in the public use of reason. Kant's arguments in the two works are the most tangible expression of the concern with the scope and limits of reason in politics that runs throughout his political philosophy. Yet the political purpose and rhetorical strategy of that defense has received less attention than it deserves. Kant contends the possibility of establishing ends set by reason as critical standards in politics depends on rulers being persuaded that their interests are best served by cooperating with philosophers. The famous distinction inWhat is Enlightenment?between the public and private uses of reason proposes the terms of this cooperation. InThe Conflict of The FacultiesKant makes similar arguments in defense of the university. He presents it as an institution that exists to serve governments but that can also pursue enlightening ends if government grants it the freedom to do so. The article attempts to show Kant's awareness of enduring conflicts between reason and authority in politics, and it argues that his defense of the public use of reason addresses them in a way that is still worthy of our attention.

The Doctrine of Intertemporal Law

1980 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. O. Elias
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Historical Changes ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Break Up

After the break-up of western Christendom following the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, a number of historical changes took place in customary international law. One of the most important changes, if not the most important, was the emergence of the nation-state and the political philosophy to which it gave rise, that is to say, the theory of political sovereignty as the cornerstone of the rights and duties of the various states that came into existence. The political sovereignty of states resulted in the gradual replacement of the old international relations within Christendom, which were based upon a theocratic system of law, by a wider legal system that later embraced nations outside Christendom and engendered a universalization of international relations and, therefore, of international law.

Process Philosophy and Political Liberalism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Dombrowski
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
Process Philosophy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Static View ◽  
Process Oriented ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Right

In this work two key theses are defended: political liberalism is a processual (rather than a static) view and process thinkers should be political liberals. Three major figures are considered (Rawls, Whitehead, Hartshorne) in the effort to show the superiority of political liberalism to its illiberal alternatives on the political right and left. Further, a politically liberal stance regarding nonhuman animals and the environment is articulated. It is typical for debates in political philosophy to be adrift regarding the concept of method, but from start to finish this book relies on the processual method of reflective equilibrium or dialectic at its best. This is the first extended effort to argue for both political liberalism as a process-oriented view and process philosophy/theology as a politically liberal view. It is also a timely defense of political liberalism against illiberal tendencies on both the right and the left.

Presentation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agenagn Kebede Dagnew
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Concept

AbstractThis paper focuses on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)’s political philosophy of state and individuals. In this paper , we will see the political concept of state and state’s relation with individuals.

Plato’s Politics

2019 ◽  
pp. 574-604
Author(s):  
Christopher Bobonich
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Private Property ◽  
The Political ◽  
Middle Period ◽  
Plato's Political Philosophy ◽  
Status Of Women

The dialogues that are most obviously important for Plato’s political philosophy include: the Apology, the Crito, the Gorgias, the Laws, the Republic, and the Statesman. Further, there are many questions of political philosophy that Plato discusses in his dialogues. These topics include, among others: (1) the ultimate ends of the city’s laws and institutions; (2) who should rule, the forms of constitution, and their ranking; (3) what institutions and offices there should be; (4) the nature and extent of citizens’ obligation to obey the laws; (5) the proper criterion of citizenship; (6) the political and social status of women; (7) the purposes of punishment; (8) private property; and (9) slavery. This chapter attempts to provide an overall picture of Plato’s political philosophy, focusing on three moments: the “Socratic” dialogues, including the Apology and the Crito; the great middle-period work, the Republic, along with the Phaedo; and finally, two works from Plato’s last period, the Statesman and the Laws.

Denmark-Norway as a Potential World Power in the Early Seventeenth Century

Itinerario ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Már Jónsson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Huge Amount ◽  
Northern Germany ◽  
Lower Saxony ◽  
One Year ◽  
Council Of State ◽  
Standing Army ◽  
Do So

On 2 January 1625, the English ambassador Robert Anstruther met with King Christian IV of Norway and Denmark and requested his participation in a union of Protestant states against Emperor Ferdinand II and the Catholic League in Germany. Within three days, King Christian proposed to contribute five thousand soldiers for one year, as part of an army of almost thirty thousand men. In early June, despite opposition from the Danish Council of State, reluctant to put a huge amount of money into foreign affairs, Christian decided to join what he called “the war for the defence of Lower Saxony”. He then headed an army of mercenaries southwards through Lower Saxony, secured all crossings over the river Weser and prepared to confront the Catholic forces. On 29 November, it was decided that Denmark would be in charge of military operations in Northern Germany, whereas England and the United Provinces would provide a monthly subsidy. The political and military prospects for Denmark were excellent, to say the least. It had the fourth strongest navy in Europe (after Spain and the two new allies), and only a few years before the Danish warships had been described by a French observer as “merveilles de l'océan”. A small standing army of two regiments had recently been established and Denmark was the fourth European state to do so after France, Spain and the neighbouring Sweden.

Coleridge's “ideal Realism”: an alternative to the “doctors of the Absolute”?

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Mary Anne Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ◽  
The Political ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Magnum Opus ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
First Time

A few months ago I read Peter Nicholson's The Political Philosophy of the British Idealists for the first time. In the index I found more than a hundred references to Hegel and only one to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. However, as many of the latter's writings, published for the first time in recent years, become generally accessible there is an increasing sense that he has been unfairly deprived of his due status as a philosopher. This is partly, no doubt, the syndrome of the prophet in his own country and partly the inevitable consequence of much of his later work remaining unpublished until recent years. Coleridge himself, with what some would take to be confirmation of an over-sensitivity to criticism, felt the neglect of his work went deeper and betrayed an anti-philosophical trait in British character. Despite his close reading of the work of many of his German contemporaries it seems that he did not read more than sixtyone pages of Hegel's Wissenschaft der Logik. His margin notes to this work are, on the whole, negative in their criticism. However, despite significant disagreements, there is much common ground in theme, argument and conclusion between his many drafts of the ‘Logosophia’, his intended magnum opus, and Hegel's system.

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