Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was the first great English philosopher and one of the most important theorists of human nature and politics in the history of Western thought.This superlative introduction introduces Hobbes' main doctrines and arguments, covering all of Hobbes' philosophy. A.P. Martinich begins with a helpful overview of Hobbes' life and work, setting his ideas against the political and scientific background of seventeenth-century England. He then introduces and assesses, in clear chapters, Hobbes' contributions to fundamental areas of philosophy:* epistemology and metaphysics, in particular Hobbes' materialism and determinism and his relation to Descartes* ethics and political philosophy, concentrating on Hobbes' most famous work, Leviathan, and the theory of the social contract it advances* philosophy of science, logic and language, considering Hobbes' theory of nominalism and his writing on rhetoric and the uses of language;* religion, examining Hobbes' analyses of revelation, prophets and miracles.The final chapter considers the legacy of Hobbes' thought and his influence on contemporary philosophy.Additional features:* chapter summaries* annotated further reading.

Hobbes' writing surprises, shocks, amuses and, above all stimulates criticism both of himself and of our conventional wisdom. This book, which is both expository and critical, concentrates on Hobbes' s ethical and political theory, but also considers the effect of these on his metaphysics. Updated, with a new preface and critical bibliography, this book will be particularly useful as an introduction for undergraduates.

This Companion makes a new departure in Hobbes scholarship, addressing a philosopher whose impact was as great on Continental European theories of state and legal systems as it was at home. This volume is a systematic attempt to incorporate work from both the Anglophone and Continental traditions, bringing together newly commissioned work by scholars from ten different countries in a topic-by-topic sequence of essays that follows the structure of Leviathan, re-examining the relationship among Hobbes's physics, metaphysics, politics, psychology, and religion. Collectively they showcase important revisionist scholarship that re-examines both the context for Leviathan and its reception, demonstrating the degree to which Hobbes was indebted to the long tradition of European humanist thought. This Cambridge Companion shows that Hobbes's legacy was never lost and that he belongs to a tradition of reflection on political theory and governance that is still alive, both in Europe and in the diaspora.

A major study of Hobbes' political philosophy drawing on developments in game and decision theory.

Includes cartoons from The Revenge of the Baby-Sat and Scientific Progress Goes "Boink" featuring Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes.

Thomas Hobbes was the first great English political philosopher. His work excited intense controversy among his contemporaries and continues to do so in our own time. In this masterly introduction to his work, Bernard Gert provides the first account of Hobbes’s political and moral philosophy that makes it clear why he is regarded as one of the best philosophers of all time in both of these fields. In a succinct and engaging analysis the book illustrates that the commonly accepted view of Hobbes as holding psychological egoism is not only incompatible with his account of human nature but is also incompatible with the moral and political theories that he puts forward. It also explains why Hobbes’s contemporaries did not accept his explicit claim to be providing a natural law account of morality. Gert shows that for Hobbes, civil society is established by a free-gift of their right of nature by the citizens; it does not involve a mutual contract between citizens and sovereign. As injustice involves breaking a contract, the sovereign cannot be unjust; however, the sovereign can be guilty of ingratitude, which is immoral. This distinction between injustice and immorality is part of a sophisticated and nuanced political theory that is in stark contrast to the reading often incorrectly attributed to Hobbes that “might makes right”. It illustrates how Hobbes’s goal of avoiding civil war provides the key to understanding his moral and political philosophy. Hobbes: Prince of Peace is likely to become the classic introduction to the work of Thomas Hobbes and will be a valuable resource for scholars and students seeking to understand the importance and relevance of his work today.

New translation of the first major work of the greatest English political philosopher.

Zagorin clears up numerous misconceptions about Hobbes and his relation to earlier natural law thinkers, in particular Hugo Grotius, and he reasserts the often overlooked role of the Hobbesian law of nature as a moral standard from which even sovereign power is not immune. Because Hobbes is commonly thought to be primarily a theorist of sovereignty, political absolutism, and unitary state power, the significance of his moral philosophy is often underestimated and widely assumed to depend entirely on individual self-interest. Zagorin reveals Hobbes's originality as a moral philosopher and his importance as a thinker who subverted and transformed the idea of natural law."--Pub. desc.

Several excellent modem books about Hobbes either focus upon his life or analyze his ideas in a technical way. Green's unique treatment of the English philosopher explores how his times helped shape his basic postulates, which are then linked with his personal experiences, an exercise in modern relativism that Hobbes and his generation would not have appreciated. Hobbes's outlook still remains more relevant to the present time than to the two intervening centuries. The faith that human nature has changed with time and circumstance has waned. "Hobbes and Human Nature "is a study in applied social theory. Green discusses those issues that Hobbes either stated or provoked: individuals and society as metaphor, religion and atheism, sovereignty and the law, intellectuals and the dominance of minorities over the majority, the precedence of perceived interests over ideas, and the failure of history to determine human fate. The standard comparison with Rousseau is made, with less emphasis upon character than upon revolution and Utopian hope. This volume should be of interest to philosophers, historians, sociologists, and political scientists. It may find some place as assigned reading for undergraduate and especially for graduate students.

A new interpretation of the theory of Hobbes.