Chapter Seven. Hobbes’s Political Philosophy II

This chapter takes up the question of the relationship between Hobbes’s political philosophy and his natural philosophy, and it offers a detailed interpretation of his political philosophy. Through an examination of Hobbes’s account of human nature and the passions, his account of morality in the state of nature, and his moral teaching conveyed through his doctrine of the laws of nature, the chapter shows that Hobbes was a moral revolutionary whose aim was to move society toward a moral outlook based on individualism, self-interest, rights, and civility. The chapter culminates in a critical reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of the Hobbesian view of morality.

Civility · Doctrine · Epistemology · Individualism · Interpretation (philosophy) · Moral philosophy · Morality · Passions · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · State of nature · Theology · Law · Philosophy · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought