Against the Authority of Books:Hobbes and the Invention of Political Science

In an age when political thinkers were writing books full of quotations of ancient and modern authors,Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury(1588-1679)developed a philosophical system which was based on scientific method rather than on the authority of books.He emphasized that the absurdities that philosophers fall into are actually due precisely to a lack of method and to the habit of quoting other thinkers as if the truth was to be found in their words.It is certainly not inappropriate to read what philosophers,historians,and poets wrote,whether for pure amusement or to find intellectual spurs useful for one’s own research and speculation;but the written word should not be confused with the truth.In the investigation aimed at discovering the truth in political matters,the philosopher must use his own intellect,relying on the strength of reasoning.Thus,political philosophy becomes a science:the science of“consequences from the accidents of politic bodies”.With his reflections on scientia civilis,Thomas Hobbes may be considered the inventor of political science.

Politics and Salus Populi:Hobbes and the Sovereign as Physician of the State

In his masterpiece Leviathan(1651),Thomas Hobbes used a series of rhetorical devices in order to persuade the English reader of the truth of his political theories and of his civil science.The first rhetorical device is the engraved frontispiece of the book,where the sword of justice held by the sovereign is also a powerful sword of rhetoric(as shown by the table depicting Rhetoric in a Martianus Capella’s manuscript owned by the Duke of Urbino).Moreover,Hobbes employs directly the metaphor of the state as a body politic and the analogy of the sovereign as the soul of the state and he also refers—though indirectly—to the Platonic analogy of the sovereign as physician of the state,evoking political thinkers,such as King James VI&I and Edward Forset.

Brain,Blood,Benevolence:Cumberland’s Anti-Hobbesian Use of Thomas Willis’s Cerebri Anatome (1664)

In his book of 1672,De Legibus Naturae,Richard Cumberland tries to refute Hobbes’s theory of human nature,demonstrating that man is not a homo insociabilis but a homo benevolens.Using Thomas Willis’s Cerebri Anatome.Cui Accessit Nervorum Descriptio et Usus(1665)as well as the works of other physicians and anatomists,Cumberland tries to show that human body(especially thanks to its peculiar brain,blood,and plexus nervous)predisposes men to a sociable life and to the building of a peaceful and civil society.

The Incomprehensible Art of Thomas Hobbes

The political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes is one of the cornerstones of modern liberalism. Resting on controversial doctrines of freedom, perception, human nature, and history, the foundations of Hobbesianism presuppose an emergence of reason from matter-in-motion that Hobbes never adequately explains. In this paper I explore the motivations and consequences of his neglect of fundamental philosophical problems through a series of ambiguous uses of key terms manifested his work： nature, necessity, and God in metaphysics and theology; freedom in politics; intelligible unity in epistemology; and imagination in ethics. These show up, respectively, in his doctrines of naturalism, political science, phenomenalism, and the state of nature. While it may be that Hobbes＇s metaphysical ideas are finally incoherent, this only raises a further question： Might Hobbes have recognized that the goal of a liberal state-a common human war against death-can only be grounded on sketchy and inadequate metaphysics, to be suppressed and avoided so far as possible？ Primarily through a reading of the Leviathan, I explore this question and tentatively propose that an affirmative answer is warranted.

未来往回走:科幻电影中的“逆托邦”想象

科幻电影整体上属于一种未来想象,但在未来想象中可以让时光倒流,回到历史现场或者遥远的史前时代,还可以让未来场景弥漫怀旧意味。这种带有“未来往回走”特点的逆向怀旧想象即“逆托邦”想象。逆托邦想象勾连起了过去、现在和未来,其独特性主要体现在四个方面。从想象向度层面来说,逆托邦通常是向着历史进行幻想,在影像叙事中经常呈现时空逆旅的特征。从影像外观层面来说,逆托邦通常构建出一种旧日奇观。从故事主题层面来说,逆托邦热衷于映射人类社会“霍布斯主义”式的残酷一面。从人文倾向层面来说,逆托邦其实在以怀旧的方式进行现代性的反思。

On the Development of the Natural Law in the Western Political Philosophy

Natural law is an important concept in political philosophy,the theme of this paper is the development of natural law in the western political philosophy.To specify this statement,this paper is divided into three parts.The first is the origin of natural law in the western political philosophy.The second is the development of natural law in Aquinas'thoughts.The third is the development of natural law in Hobbes'thoughts.

Democracy:Public Contracting in Open Societies

What is true information in today’s world?The hunt for information is not only in the private sector―market trends and enterprise data,but also on the public sector.Information is strongly linked with incentives;leaking news and you have an extra rent.This paper tries to model the crucial role of information and its incentives in government and it started in the public sector.

Relating the composition of continental margin surface sediments from the Ross Sea to the Amundsen Sea,West Antarctica,to modern environmental conditions

Investigating the multiple proxies involving productivity,organic geochemistry,and trace element(TE)enrichment in surface sediments could be used as paleoenvironment archives to gain insights into past and future environmental conditions changes.We present redox-sensitive TEs(Mn,Ni,Cu,U,P,Mo,Co,V,Zn,and Cd),productivity-related proxies(total organic carbon and opal),and total nitrogen and CaCO_(3) contents of bulk surface sediments of this area.The productivity proxies from the shelf and coastal regions of the Ross and the Amundsen seas showed that higher productivity was affiliated with an area of nutrient-rich deep water upwelling.The upwelling of weakly corrosive deep water may be beneficial for preserving CaCO_(3),while highly corrosive dense water,if it forms on the shelf near the coastal region(coastal polynya),could limit the preservation of CaCO_(3) in modern conditions.There were no oxic or anoxic conditions in the study area,as indicated by the enrichment factors of redox-sensitive TEs(Mn,Co,and U).The enrichment factor of Cd,which is redox-sensitive,indicated suboxic redox conditions in sediment environments because of high primary productivity and organic matter preservation/decomposition.The enrichment factors of other redox-sensitive TEs(P,Ni,Cu,V,and Zn)and the correlations between the element/Ti ratio with productivity and nutrient proxies indicated that the organic matter decomposed,and there was massive burial of phytoplankton biomass.There was variation in the enrichment,such that sediments were enriched in P,Mo,and Zn,but depleted in Ni,Cu,and V.

Unlearning Descartes:Sentient AI is a Political Problem

The emergence of Large Language Models(LLMs)has renewed debate about whether Artificial Intelligence(AI)can be conscious or sentient.This paper identifies two approaches to the topic and argues:(1)A“Cartesian”approach treats consciousness,sentience,and personhood as very similar terms,and treats language use as evidence that an entity is conscious.This approach,which has been dominant in AI research,is primarily interested in what consciousness is,and whether an entity possesses it.(2)An alternative“Hobbesian”approach treats consciousness as a sociopolitical issue and is concerned with what the implications are for labeling something sentient or conscious.This both enables a political disambiguation of language,consciousness,and personhood and allows regulation to proceed in the face of intractable problems in deciding if something“really is”sentient.(3)AI systems should not be treated as conscious,for at least two reasons:(a)treating the system as an origin point tends to mask competing interests in creating it,at the expense of the most vulnerable people involved;and(b)it will tend to hinder efforts at holding someone accountable for the behavior of the systems.A major objective of this paper is accordingly to encourage a shift in thinking.In place of the Cartesian question-is AI sentient?-I propose that we confront the more Hobbesian one:Does it make sense to regulate developments in which AI systems behave as if they were sentient?

Leviathan in Lord of the Flies from the Perspective of Political Philosophy

William Golding,the Nobel Prize winner,depicts civilization and savagery,democracy and anarchy,reconstruction and destruction vividly in his masterpiece Lord of the Flies.Providing a more cogent interpretation of Lord of the Flies,this thesis is intended to demonstrate and analyze the descriptive construction of society from the perspective of political philosophy.Following the view of Thomas Hobbes'theory,the thesis makes a comparison between Lord of the Flies and Leviathan by focusing on state of na-ture,law of nature,social contract and common wealth.The study reveals that the commonwealth originates from a conflict that the contradiction in human nature.Hence considering the evil nature of human beings,the state of commonwealth is indispensable for hu-man existence and sustainability which arouse the reflection of the civilization order and regime.