THE CONCEPT OF THE POLITICAL IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS HOBBES

Authors

  • Bachuki Tsanava St. Petersburg State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu23.2020.305

Abstract

The article is devoted to the concept of the political in the philosophy of English thinker Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). The author points out the key concepts for understanding the concept of the political in Hobbes’s philosophy, such as the method of his philosophy, anthropological views, and the idea of the state of nature. The author describes the philosopher’s thought path toward the concept of the political, beginning from his attempt to overcome the shortcomings of contemporary philosophy and the desire to create a science of politics, based on rational deliberation.
Hobbes contrasts elocution with his method of searching for political truth based on reason because there is more harm than good done to the state by elocution. In the hands of selfish and vain individuals, elocution turns into an instrument for achieving personal goals rather than the common good. Hobbes’s anthropological views allow him to describe all the horror and injustice in the state of nature, in which any selfish, but reasonable person, using the right method will come to the idea of the need to establish a state. The author notes that the concepts of vanity and fear occupied a particularly important place in Hobbes’s philosophy, since they are the reasons for the collapse and creation of states. Thus, the concept of the political in Hobbes’s philosophy is inseparable from deliberation based on reason, since without it selfish individuals cannot hear the
voice of reason, establish the Leviathan, and proceed to the political condition. The social contract, obtained as a result of rational deliberation of egoistic individuals, represents the pinnacle of the political because neither the political condition nor citizens existed before it.

Keywords:

Hobbes, state of nature, Leviathan, anthropological pessimism, social contract

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Published

2020-11-30

How to Cite

Tsanava, B. . (2020). THE CONCEPT OF THE POLITICAL IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS HOBBES. Political Expertise: POLITEX, 16(3), 375–396. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu23.2020.305

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 3 (2020): Political Expertise: POLITEX

Section

The Theory of Political Science

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Articles of "Political Expertise: POLITEX" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.