A Companion to HobbesMarcus P. Adams Offers comprehensive treatment of Thomas Hobbes’s thought, providing readers with different ways of understanding Hobbes as a systematic philosopher As one of the founders of modern political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes is best known for his ideas regarding the nature of legitimate government and the necessity of society submitting to the absolute authority of sovereign power. Yet Hobbes produced a wide range of writings, from translations of texts by Homer and Thucydides, to interpretations of Biblical books, to works devoted to geometry, optics, morality, and religion. Hobbes viewed himself as presenting a unified method for theoretical and practical science—an interconnected system of philosophy that provides many entry points into his thought. A Companion to Hobbes is an expertly curated collection of essays offering close textual engagement with the thought of Thomas Hobbes in his major works while probing his ideas regarding natural philosophy, mathematics, human nature, civil philosophy, religion, and more. The Companion discusses the ways in which scholars have tried to understand the unity and diversity of Hobbes’s philosophical system and examines the reception of the different parts of Hobbes’s philosophy by thinkers such as René Descartes, Margaret Cavendish, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Presenting a diversity of fresh perspectives by both emerging and established scholars, this volume:
Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series, A Companion to Hobbes is an invaluable resource for scholars and advanced students of Early modern thought, particularly those from disciplines such as History of Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Intellectual History, History of Politics, Political Theory, and English. |
Contents
The Presentation and Structure of Thomas Hobbess Philosophy | 1 |
Abbreviations for Citations to Hobbess Works | 20 |
The Stoic Roots of Hobbess Natural Philosophy and First Philosophy | 45 |
Hobbesian Mathematics and the Dispute with Wallis | 57 |
Explanations in Hobbess Optics and Natural Philosophy | 75 |
Human Nature and Morality | 91 |
Felicity by Anticipatory Pleasure | 109 |
Hobbes on Friendship and Sociability | 125 |
Religion | 269 |
Hobbes on Submission to God | 287 |
Thomas Hobbes and the Christian Commonwealth | 303 |
Hobbes and Toleration | 318 |
Hobbes Romes Enemy | 332 |
Hobbes and the Papal Monarchy | 348 |
Controversies and Reception | 365 |
Hobbess Mechanical Philosophy and Its English Critics | 381 |
Hobbes on Power and Gender Relations | 139 |
The State of Nature as a Continuum Concept | 156 |
Hobbess Minimalist Moral Theory | 171 |
Civil Philosophy | 185 |
Hobbess Account of Authorizing a Sovereign | 203 |
The Strength and Significance of Subjects Rights in Leviathan | 221 |
Hobbes on Sovereignty and Its Strains | 236 |
Hobbes on International Ethics | 252 |