Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

Or the Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civill

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Throughout his long life Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) associated with some of the most celebrated thinkers of the age and witnessed some of its most dramatic events; it is therefore no wonder that his philosophy is regarded as among the most original and influential in Western philosophy. Motivated as much by Hobbes' horror of the violence unleashed by the English civil war as his materialistic belief in thought as a mechanical process, Leviathan (1651) states the case for complete obedience to an absolute government as the only way of bringing peace and security to society. The true nature of mankind is at the heart of Hobbes' political philosophy, and it is his uncompromising rejection of pre-existing depictions of mankind as the peak of creation in favour of a race naturally compelled to savagery which makes Leviathan as challenging and controversial today as it ever was.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Benediction Books
• Seitenzahl: 364
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Oktober 2016
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 161mm x 26mm
• Gewicht: 779g
• ISBN-13: 9781781399774
• ISBN-10: 1781399778
• Artikelnr.: 52636941

Autorenporträt

Thomas Hobbes (5 April 1588 - 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, which expounded an influential formulation of social contract theory. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes also contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, the physics of gases, theology, ethics, and general philosophy. The English Civil War began in 1642, and when the royalist cause began to decline in mid-1644, some of the king's supporters fled to Europe. Many came to Paris and were known to Hobbes. In 1647, Hobbes took up a position as mathematical instructor to the young Charles, Prince of Wales, who had come to Paris from Jersey around July. This engagement lasted until 1648 when Charles went to Holland. The company of the exiled royalists led Hobbes to produce Leviathan, which set forth his theory of civil government in relation to the political crisis resulting from the war. Hobbes compared the State to a monster (leviathan) composed of men, created under pressure of human needs and dissolved by civil strife due to human passions. In 1658, Hobbes published the final section of his philosophical system, completing the scheme he had planned more than 20 years before. De Homine consisted for the most part of an elaborate theory of vision. From the time of the Restoration, he acquired a new prominence; "Hobbism" became a byword for all that respectable society ought to denounce. The young king, Hobbes' former pupil, now Charles II, remembered Hobbes and called him to the court to grant him a pension of £100.