Today we would know about the thomas hobbes.
Thomas Hobbes is really the first Englishman who wrote comprehensively on political
philosophy and made valuable contributions to it. He is one of the most controversial and important
figures in the history of western political thought. His status as a political thinker was not fully
recognised until the 19th century. The philosophical radicalism of the English utilitarian’s and the
scientific rationalism of the French Encyclopaedists incorporated in a large measure Hobbes’s
mechanical materialism, radical individualism and psychological egoism. By the mid- 20th century
Hobbes was acclaimed as “probably the greatest writer on political philosophy that the English
speaking people have produced”. According to Micheal Oakeshott, “the Leviathan is the greatest,
perhaps the sole, masterpiece of political philosophy written in the English language”.
Hobbes lived at a time of great constitutional crisis in England when the theory of Divine
Right of Kings was fiercely contested by the upholders of the constitutional rule based on popular
consent. It is he who for the first time systematically expounded the absolute theory of sovereignty
and originated the positivist theory of law. Though he was not a liberal, modern commentators
believe that his political doctrine has greater affinities with the liberalism of the 20th century than his
authoritarian theory would initially suggest. From a broad philosophical perspective, the importance
of Hobbes is his bold and systematic attempt to assimilate the science of man and civil society to a
thoroughly modern science corresponding to a completely mechanistic conception of nature. His
psychological egoism, his ethical relativism and his political absolutism are all supposed to follow
logically from the assumptions or principles underlying the physical world which primarily consists of
matter and motion.
Hobbes was prematurely born in 1588 in Westport near the small town of Malmesburg in
England at a time when the country was threatened by the impending attack of the Spanish
Armada. His father was a member of the clergy (vicar) near Malmesburg .His long life was full of
momentous events. He was a witness to the great political and constitutional turmoil caused by
English civil war and his life and writings bear clear imprint of it. After his education at Oxford,
Hobbes joined as tutor to the son of William Cavendish, who was about the same age as Hobbes.
The association of Cavendish family lasted, with some interruptions until Hobbes’ death. Through
his close connection with the royal family he met eminent scholars and scientists of the day such as
Bacon Descartes, Galileo etc. His first publication was translation in English of Thucydides History
of the Peloponnesian War in 1629. Besides just before he died, at the age of 86, he translated
Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad into English. The important works of Hobbes include De Civic and the
Leviathan.
Hobbes’ political philosophy in the Leviathan (1651) was a reflection of the civil war in
England following the execution of Charles I . According to William Ebenstein the Leviathan is not
an apology for the Stuart monarchy nor a grammar of despotic government but the first general
theory of politics in the English language’ What makes Leviathan a masterpiece of philosophical
literature is the profound logic of Hobbes’ imagination, his power as an artist. Hobbes recalls us to
our morality with a deliberate conviction, with a subtle and sustained argument.
So this is all about it so thanks for reading.
Thomas Hobbes is really the first Englishman who wrote comprehensively on political
philosophy and made valuable contributions to it. He is one of the most controversial and important
figures in the history of western political thought. His status as a political thinker was not fully
recognised until the 19th century. The philosophical radicalism of the English utilitarian’s and the
scientific rationalism of the French Encyclopaedists incorporated in a large measure Hobbes’s
mechanical materialism, radical individualism and psychological egoism. By the mid- 20th century
Hobbes was acclaimed as “probably the greatest writer on political philosophy that the English
speaking people have produced”. According to Micheal Oakeshott, “the Leviathan is the greatest,
perhaps the sole, masterpiece of political philosophy written in the English language”.
Hobbes lived at a time of great constitutional crisis in England when the theory of Divine
Right of Kings was fiercely contested by the upholders of the constitutional rule based on popular
consent. It is he who for the first time systematically expounded the absolute theory of sovereignty
and originated the positivist theory of law. Though he was not a liberal, modern commentators
believe that his political doctrine has greater affinities with the liberalism of the 20th century than his
authoritarian theory would initially suggest. From a broad philosophical perspective, the importance
of Hobbes is his bold and systematic attempt to assimilate the science of man and civil society to a
thoroughly modern science corresponding to a completely mechanistic conception of nature. His
psychological egoism, his ethical relativism and his political absolutism are all supposed to follow
logically from the assumptions or principles underlying the physical world which primarily consists of
matter and motion.
Hobbes was prematurely born in 1588 in Westport near the small town of Malmesburg in
England at a time when the country was threatened by the impending attack of the Spanish
Armada. His father was a member of the clergy (vicar) near Malmesburg .His long life was full of
momentous events. He was a witness to the great political and constitutional turmoil caused by
English civil war and his life and writings bear clear imprint of it. After his education at Oxford,
Hobbes joined as tutor to the son of William Cavendish, who was about the same age as Hobbes.
The association of Cavendish family lasted, with some interruptions until Hobbes’ death. Through
his close connection with the royal family he met eminent scholars and scientists of the day such as
Bacon Descartes, Galileo etc. His first publication was translation in English of Thucydides History
of the Peloponnesian War in 1629. Besides just before he died, at the age of 86, he translated
Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad into English. The important works of Hobbes include De Civic and the
Leviathan.
Hobbes’ political philosophy in the Leviathan (1651) was a reflection of the civil war in
England following the execution of Charles I . According to William Ebenstein the Leviathan is not
an apology for the Stuart monarchy nor a grammar of despotic government but the first general
theory of politics in the English language’ What makes Leviathan a masterpiece of philosophical
literature is the profound logic of Hobbes’ imagination, his power as an artist. Hobbes recalls us to
our morality with a deliberate conviction, with a subtle and sustained argument.
So this is all about it so thanks for reading.
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