Hobbes and the Law of Nature

by Perez Zagorin

Overview

This is the first major work in English to explore at length the meaning, context, aims, and vital importance of Thomas Hobbes's concepts of the law of nature and the right of nature. Hobbes remains one of the most challenging and controversial of early modern philosophers, and debates persist about the interpretation of many of his ideas, particularly his views about natural law and natural right. In this book, Perez Zagorin argues that these two concepts are the twin foundations of the entire structure of Hobbes's moral and political thought.


Zagorin clears up numerous misconceptions about Hobbes and his relation to earlier natural law thinkers, in particular Hugo Grotius, and he reasserts the often overlooked role of the Hobbesian law of nature as a moral standard from which even sovereign power is not immune. Because Hobbes is commonly thought to be primarily a theorist of sovereignty, political absolutism, and unitary state power, the significance of his moral philosophy is often underestimated and widely assumed to depend entirely on individual self-interest. Zagorin reveals Hobbes's originality as a moral philosopher and his importance as a thinker who subverted and transformed the idea of natural law.



Hobbes and the Law of Nature is a major contribution to our understanding of Hobbes's moral, legal, and political philosophy, and a book rich in interpretive and critical insights into Hobbes's writing and thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691139807
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	12/06/2009
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Perez Zagorin was the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Rochester. His books include Thucydides: An Introduction for the Common Reader and How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West (both Princeton).

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Abbreviations xi





Chapter 1: S ome Basic Hobbesian Concepts 1

The Law of Nature 5

Hobbes's Critique of the Natural Law Tradition 11

Natural Rights 20





Chapter 2: Enter the Law of Nature 30

Human Nature 32

The State of Nature or Man's Natural Condition 36

The Precepts of the Law of Nature 42

Natural Rights and the Creation of the Commonwealth 54

Consent, Fear, Obligation, and Populism 60





Chapter 3: The Sovereign and the Law of Nature 66

The Theory of Sovereignty 66

The Liberty of Subjects 75

Hobbes's Very Moral Sovereign 84





Chapter 4: Hobbes, the Moral Philosopher 99

Self and Others 99

Obligation 106

Is and Ought 112

Religion and Toleration 117





Conclusion 127

Notes 129

Index 171

What People are Saying About This

Richard Flathman

I read this book with genuine pleasure and profit. Hobbes and the Law of Nature is a work of great intellectual power by a scholar of enormous breadth and depth. Zagorin rescues Hobbes from misguided and hostile interpreters, and his book will certainly elicit some strong, even angry feelings. This will be all to the good.
— Richard Flathman, professor emeritus, Johns Hopkins University

From the Publisher

"I read this book with genuine pleasure and profit. Hobbes and the Law of Nature is a work of great intellectual power by a scholar of enormous breadth and depth. Zagorin rescues Hobbes from misguided and hostile interpreters, and his book will certainly elicit some strong, even angry feelings. This will be all to the good."—Richard Flathman, professor emeritus, Johns Hopkins University

"Hobbes and the Law of Nature is a significant contribution. Zagorin brings almost the entire Hobbesian corpus to bear, as well as a great deal of the scholarly literature on Hobbes of the past several decades. He also deploys his considerable knowledge of the seventeenth-century context of Hobbes's thinking. The result is that he helps us see Hobbes's thought much more clearly."—Michael P. Zuckert, University of Notre Dame

Zuckert

Hobbes and the Law of Nature is a significant contribution. Zagorin brings almost the entire Hobbesian corpus to bear, as well as a great deal of the scholarly literature on Hobbes of the past several decades. He also deploys his considerable knowledge of the seventeenth-century context of Hobbes's thinking. The result is that he helps us see Hobbes's thought much more clearly.
— Michael P. Zuckert, University of Notre Dame

Editorial Reviews

"Zagorin's study is erudite, insightful and especially commendable for analyzing both the philosophical import and historical context of the ideas discussed."—-Robin Douglass, Political Studies Review

"Zagorin's book is a helpful introduction into the basics of Hobbesian politics, the prominent secondary debates, and the broader historical context of natural law theory, which will inspire many of its readers with a positive awareness of the potentially moral dimensions in Hobbes' political writings."—-Ester Bertrand, Political Science Journal

"Zagorin's book . . . serves as a good introduction to Hobbes and the history of Hobbes scholarship as well as to the history of political philosophy more generally. It would be a suitable text for an upper-level undergraduate course on Hobbes as well as a graduate course."—-Michael P. Krom, Historian

From the Publisher

Zagorin's book . . . serves as a good introduction to Hobbes and the history of Hobbes scholarship as well as to the history of political philosophy more generally. It would be a suitable text for an upper-level undergraduate course on Hobbes as well as a graduate course.

Historian - Michael P. Krom

Zagorin's book is a helpful introduction into the basics of Hobbesian politics, the prominent secondary debates, and the broader historical context of natural law theory, which will inspire many of its readers with a positive awareness of the potentially moral dimensions in Hobbes' political writings.

Political Science Journal - Ester Bertrand

Zagorin's study is erudite, insightful and especially commendable for analyzing both the philosophical import and historical context of the ideas discussed.

Political Studies Review - Robin Douglass

Zagorin's book . . . serves as a good introduction to Hobbes and the history of Hobbes scholarship as well as to the history of political philosophy more generally. It would be a suitable text for an upper-level undergraduate course on Hobbes as well as a graduate course.
— Michael P. Krom

Historian

Zagorin's book is a helpful introduction into the basics of Hobbesian politics, the prominent secondary debates, and the broader historical context of natural law theory, which will inspire many of its readers with a positive awareness of the potentially moral dimensions in Hobbes' political writings.
— Ester Bertrand

Political Science Journal

Zagorin's study is erudite, insightful and especially commendable for analyzing both the philosophical import and historical context of the ideas discussed.
— Robin Douglass

Political Studies Review