In finishing the first part of Thomas Hobbes’s magisterial and path breaking work Leviathan, we are transitioning out of Hobbes’s anthropology and state of nature and toward the artificial construction that is the political. The rise of covenant political theory is foundational to political liberalism, and Chapters 14-16 deal with what Hobbes means by covenant politics. … Continue reading The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part V: Political Life and Society
Thomas Hobbes
The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part IV: War and the State of Nature
Proceeding to reading Chapters 10-13 we hit the meat of Hobbes’s Leviathan. We approach his famous commentary on the state of nature, wherein we are burdened by the “war of every man against everyman” or “war of all against all” (from the Latin edition: Bellum omnium contra omnes) and his bleak assessment that life in this state … Continue reading The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part IV: War and the State of Nature
The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part III: On Freedom
The eighth chapter of Leviathan is one of the most important of the entire book, and it is one with profound implications concerning the political, even if the exoteric discussion is about intellectual virtues arising from passions and the motions of the passions. If we recall back to Chapter 3, Hobbes defined “rational” as the regulations on … Continue reading The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part III: On Freedom
The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part II: Of Man, Knowledge, and “Science”
As we continue to read through Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, an actual reading of the text again causes much confusion to readers who have swallowed the false pill of the myth of the “Enlightenment” and the “Age of Reason.” In this post we will examine two crucial chapters, 6 and 7, and what the implications are for … Continue reading The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part II: Of Man, Knowledge, and “Science”
The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part I: Of Man, Language, and “Morality”
Thomas Hobbes is one of the most consequential and important modern philosophers. In many ways he helped to shift Western consciousness in philosophy from God, the Transcendentals (the Good, True, and Beautiful), and the soul to materialism, physicalism, and mechanicalism. This shift is what historian and philosopher Mark Lilla calls “the great separation” in his … Continue reading The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, Part I: Of Man, Language, and “Morality”
Introduction to Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes is one of the most consequential philosophers in history. Some say he is the father of modern philosophy, and the father of liberalism, “If we may call liberalism that political doctrine which regards as the fundamental fact the rights, as distinguished from the duties, of man and which identifies the function of the … Continue reading Introduction to Thomas Hobbes
Liberalism and the Economic Man
What is liberalism? What is the relationship between liberalism and economism? Why did the Second International condemn social democracy and social liberalism, those philosophies that are often publicly proclaimed as “radical” and “socialist” by philosophical dilettantes, though not having any relationship to actual socialism? Also, is liberalism about “natural rights” or is it actually a … Continue reading Liberalism and the Economic Man
The Absurdities and Statism Inherent to Liberalism
Liberalism has been the most powerful philosophical force in the “Western” world for the last 400 years. Liberalism, as a term, is thrown around often as an epithet by “conservatives” and proudly worn by those who see liberalism as a driving force for progress and “enlightenment.” Like other political philosophies, liberalism often is used in … Continue reading The Absurdities and Statism Inherent to Liberalism
