Hobbes and the Artifice of Eternity

Hobbes and the Artifice of Eternity PDF Author: Christopher Scott McClure
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107153794
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
An original analysis of Hobbes' political and religious thought, arguing that apparent inconsistencies in his work were a rhetorical strategy.

Hobbes and the Artifice of Eternity

Hobbes and the Artifice of Eternity PDF Author: Christopher Scott McClure
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107153794
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
An original analysis of Hobbes' political and religious thought, arguing that apparent inconsistencies in his work were a rhetorical strategy.

Hobbes and the Artifice of Eternity

Hobbes and the Artifice of Eternity PDF Author: Christopher Scott McClure
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781316650035
Category : POLITICAL SCIENCE
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Thomas Hobbes argues that the fear of violent death is the most reliable passion on which to found political society. His role in shaping the contemporary view of religion and honor in the West is pivotal, yet his ideas are famously riddled with contradictions. In this breakthrough study, McClure finds evidence that Hobbes' apparent inconsistencies are intentional, part of a sophisticated rhetorical strategy meant to make man more afraid of death than he naturally is. Hobbes subtly undermined two of the most powerful manifestations of man's desire for immortality: the religious belief in an afterlife and the secular desire for eternal fame through honor. McClure argues that Hobbes purposefully stirred up controversy, provoking his adversaries into attacking him and unwittingly spreading his message. This study will appeal to scholars of Hobbes, political theorists, historians of early modern political thought and anyone interested in the genesis of modern Western attitudes toward mortality.

Hobbes and the Democratic Imaginary

Hobbes and the Democratic Imaginary PDF Author: Christopher Holman
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438490445
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
At a time when nearly all political actors and observers—despite the nature of their normative commitments—morally appeal to the language of democracy, the particular signification of the term has become obscured. Hobbes and the Democratic Imaginary argues that critical engagement with various elements of the work of Hobbes, a notorious critic of democracy, can deepen our understanding of the problems, stakes, and ethics of democratic life. Firstly, Hobbes's descriptive anatomy of democratic sovereignty reveals what is essential to the institution of this form of government, in the face of the conceptual confusion that characterizes the contemporary deployment of democratic terminology. Secondly, Hobbes's critique of the mechanics of democracy points toward certain fundamental political risks that are internal to its mode of operation. And thirdly, contrary to Hobbes's own intentions, Christopher Holman shows how the selective redeployment of certain Hobbesian categories could help construct a normative ground in which democracy is the ethical choice in relation to other sovereign forms.

The Origins of the Bible and Early Modern Political Thought

The Origins of the Bible and Early Modern Political Thought PDF Author: Travis DeCook
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108912788
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
In this book, Travis DeCook explores the theological and political innovations found in early modern accounts of the Bible's origins. In the charged climate produced by the Reformation and humanist historicism, writers grappled with the tension between the Bible's divine and human aspects, and they produced innovative narratives regarding the agencies and processes through which the Bible came into existence and was transmitted. DeCook investigates how these accounts of Scripture's production were taken up beyond the expected boundaries of biblical study, and were redeployed as the theological basis for wide-reaching arguments about the proper ordering of human life. DeCook provides a new, critical perspective on ideas regarding secularity, secularization, and modernity, challenging the dominant narratives regarding the Bible's role in these processes. He shows how these engagements with the Bible's origins prompt a rethinking of formulations of secularity and secularization in our own time.

Interpreting Hobbes's Political Philosophy

Interpreting Hobbes's Political Philosophy PDF Author: S. A. Lloyd
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108246524
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
The essays in this volume provide a state-of-the-art overview of the central elements of Hobbes's political philosophy and the ways in which they can be interpreted. The volume's contributors offer their own interpretations of Hobbes's philosophical method, his materialism, his psychological theory and moral theory, and his views on benevolence, law and civil liberties, religion, and women. Hobbes's ideas of authorization and representation, his use of the 'state of nature', and his reply to the unjust 'Foole' are also critically analyzed. The essays will help readers to orient themselves in the complex scholarly literature while also offering groundbreaking arguments and innovative interpretations. The volume as a whole will facilitate new insights into Hobbes's political theory, enabling readers to consider key elements of his thought from multiple perspectives and to select and combine them to form their own interpretations of his political philosophy.

Counsel and Command in Early Modern English Thought

Counsel and Command in Early Modern English Thought PDF Author: Joanne Paul
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108490174
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The first comprehensive study of early modern English political counsel and its association with the discourse of sovereignty.

Time, History, and Political Thought

Time, History, and Political Thought PDF Author: John Robertson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009289365
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
Explores the multiple ways in which different conceptions of time and history have been used to understand politics since late antiquity, showing that no conception of politics has dispensed altogether with time, and many have explicitly sought legitimacy in association with forms of history.

Apocalypse without God

Apocalypse without God PDF Author: Ben Jones
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316517055
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Explains why apocalyptic thought, despite often being dismissed as bizarre, has persistent appeal in political life.

The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Evil

The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Evil PDF Author: Thomas Nys
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317394402
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 840

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Book Description
Why ought we concern ourselves with understanding a concept of evil? It is an elusive and politically charged concept which critics argue has no explanatory power and is a relic of a superstitious and primitive religious past. Yet its widespread use persists today: we find it invoked by politicians, judges, journalists, and many others to express the view that certain actions, persons, institutions, or ideologies are not just morally problematic but require a special signifier to mark them out from the ordinary and commonplace. Therefore, the question of what a concept of evil could mean and how it fits into our moral vocabulary remains an important and pressing concern. The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Evil provides an outstanding overview and exploration of these issues and more, bringing together an international team of scholars working on the concept of evil. Its 27 chapters cover the crucial discussions and arguments, both historical and contemporary, that are needed to properly understand the historical development and complexity of the concept of evil. The Handbook is divided into three parts: Historical explorations of evil Recent secular explorations of evil Evil and other issues. The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Evil is essential reading for students and researchers in the fields of ethics and philosophy of psychology. It also provides important insights and background for anyone exploring the concept of evil in related subjects such as literature, politics, and religion.

Leviathan

Leviathan PDF Author: Horst Bredekamp
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110681412
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Von Natur aus ist der Mensch so frei wie wölfisch. Um sich selbst zu bändigen, muss er folglich einen künstlichen Riesen schaffen: den Staat, der als übergeordnete Instanz den permanenten Bürgerkrieg zu unterdrücken und Frieden zu schaffen vermag. Diese Essenz von Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan" ist bis heute ebenso vehement verworfen wie bekräftigt worden. Zu den Mitteln, mit denen der Leviathan die Menschen vom Unfrieden abhält, gehören Bilder, und aus diesem Grund steht dem Leviathan ein Frontispiz voran. Das Buch erschließt mit Abraham Bosse den Künstler des Frontispizes, stellt sämtliche Varianten dieses Urbildes des modernen Staates zusammen und versucht, die Vorgeschichte seiner politischen Ikonographie zu klären.