Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679)put forward"state of nature",a term of political theory which had completely changed the Western political philosophy. Deeply influenced by this concept, Daniel Defoe(1660-1731) showe...Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679)put forward"state of nature",a term of political theory which had completely changed the Western political philosophy. Deeply influenced by this concept, Daniel Defoe(1660-1731) showed us an island of the state of nature in his Robinson Crusoe. A print of man's foot on the sand, which evoked Robinson's fear, had become a symbol of the state of nature for Robinson's life on the island, and finally brought him a"state of war".展开更多
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 presuppo...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.展开更多
文摘Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679)put forward"state of nature",a term of political theory which had completely changed the Western political philosophy. Deeply influenced by this concept, Daniel Defoe(1660-1731) showed us an island of the state of nature in his Robinson Crusoe. A print of man's foot on the sand, which evoked Robinson's fear, had become a symbol of the state of nature for Robinson's life on the island, and finally brought him a"state of war".
文摘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.
