Hobbes, the Rhetorical Tradition, and Toleration
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6397236 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gary Remer (0000-0002-4108-3661, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1992 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 5-33 |
| Publication date | 1992-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Review of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0034670500017162 |
| OpenAlex | W2016318685 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 20 |
Scholars disagree about whether or not there was a break between Hobbes's earlier, humanistic period and his later, scientific period. This article contends that, when judged on the epistemological level, Hobbes broke with his humanist past by exchanging the probability of the humanists' rhetorical epistemology for the certainty of scientific knowledge. Hobbes believed that only certainty could shield against the anarchy of civil war. Hobbes's rejection of the humanists' epistemology had practical consequences for the issue of religious toleration. The humanists, like the ancient rhetoricians, turned to consensus as the criterion of truth. By relying on consensus, the humanists were able to reduce the area of intolerance; only those beliefs on which there existed a broad-based agreement of the Christian faithful were viewed as essential. Hobbes's rejection of the humanists' epistemology, which included their concept of consensus, also entailed his rejection of their particular defense of toleration. Nevertheless, since Hobbesian political theory is, in principle, neutral on the question of toleration, there is nothing in the logic of Hobbes's argument that would preclude a greater degree of toleration, based on the sovereign's prudential assessment of existing circumstances
Argument (complex analysis · Certainty · Epistemology · Humanism · Political science · Politics · Rhetorical question · Theology · Toleration · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
Hobbes and Spinoza on Sovereign Education
Republicanism, Rhetoric, and Roman Political Thought
Quentin Skinner's Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes
The return of the intolerant Hobbes
Political Theory beyond the Rhetoric–Reason Divide
The Uneasy Relationship between Social Contract Theory and Religious Toleration
Hobbes contra Liberty of Conscience
Hobbes's Paradoxical Toleration
Theology and the Scientific Imagination
English Political Thought 1603–1644
The Common Corps of Christendom
The Sophists
Politics and Vision
The Golden Lands of Thomas Hobbes
Hobbes's System of Ideas
The Development of Religious Toleration in England
The Complete Prose Works of John Milton
The Political Philosophy of Hobbes
Hobbes' Linguistic Turn
Ideology and Class in Hobbes' Political Theory
Skepticism and Hobbes's Political Philosophy
The Rhetoric of Leviathan
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,28 |
| Citation span | 1997 - 2022 (26) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |