The Relationship between Ethics and Politics in the Political Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes with an emphasis on Human Nature
Subject Areas : علوم سیاسی
Keywords: Ethics, Politics, Political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes, Human nature,
Abstract :
Hobbes's tendency to connect the two fields of ethics and politics has a historical background. Historical analysis shows that upon entering the modern era, with Machi-avelli and Hobbes and their contemporaries, politics and ethics find a realistic, relativ-istic, utilitarian and anti-ultra centric nature. Hobbes's systematic explanation of hu-man nature, ethics and politics begins with the fundamental characteristics of humans. He proposes a political system based on two scenarios of the natural state and the gov-ernment (commonwealth). According to him, if the unruly nature of man is not limited by an absolute ruler with full power, the return to the natural state or the war of all against all will be inevitable. Hobbes belonged to his own time and his concern was order, peace and security, and therefore, by combining moral philosophy (natural laws) and political philosophy (civil laws), and presenting an ethical view of human self-preservation, he builds a system consisting of do’s and don'ts based on the description of the characteristics of human nature to form a peaceful government based on the so-cial contract theory to lead everyone towards a society with security. Hobbes's moral philosophy originates from his theory about natural law, and natural law also includes his theory about natural rights. Natural law and natural rights are the two foundations on which Hobbes based his theory of ethics and politics, respectively.
References
Alexandra, A. & Boonin-Vail, D. (1996). "Thomas Hobbes and the science of moral virtue", Philosophical Quar-terly, 46, 550.
Boonin-Vail, D. (1994). "Thomas Hobbes and the Science of Moral Virtue", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Caton, H. (1974). "On the Basis of Hobbes's Political Philosophy", Political Stud-ies, Vol. XXII, No. 4, 414-431.
Chung, H. (2016). "Psychological Egoism and Hobbes", FILOZOFIA, 71(3), 197-208.
Dadbeh, Ali Asghar (1995). Fakhr Razi, Teh-ran: New Design Publications.
Dennett, D. C. (1996). "Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life", London: Penguin.
Ewin, R. E. (1991). "The Moral Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes", Routledge Uni-versity Press.
Ewin, R. E. (1991). "Virtues and Rights: The Moral Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes", Boulder, Westview Press.
Finis, J. (2020). "Natural law theories", in Edward n. zalta (ed.), the Hamford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stan-ford University Press.
Gauthier, D. (1969). "The Logic of Levia-than", Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grover, R. A. (1980). “The Legal Origins of Thomas Hobbes’s Doctrine of Con-tract,” Journal of the History of Phi-losophy 18, 177–94.
Hampton, J. (1986). "Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hobbes Th. (1969). "The Elements of Law. 2nd edition. Edited by F. Tonnies with a New Introduction by M. M. Goldsmith (1969). Reprinted with permission of Cambridge University Press.
Hobbes Thomas (1998). "On the Citizen". Edited and translated by R. Tuck and M. Silverthorne (1998). Reprint-ed with permission of Cambridge University Press.
Hobbes, Th. (1651). "Leviathan". Edited by R. Tuck (1996). Reprinted with permission of Cambridge University Press.
Hobbes, Th. (1656). "De Corpore": Ele-mentorum philosophiae sectio prima de corpore OL I.
Hobbes, Th. (1991). "Man, and Citizen", trans. Charles T. Wood, T. S. K. Scott-Craig, and Bernard Gert (Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company).
Hobbs, Thomas (2001). leviathan Transla-tion: Hossein Bashiryeh, first edi-tion, Tehran: Nei Publishing.
Jahanbeglu, Ramin (2004). Sovereignty and Freedom: Lessons in Modern Politi-cal Philosophy, Tehran: Ney Pub-lishing.
Kavka, G. S. (1986). "Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory". Princeton: Prince-ton University Press.
Lemetti, J. (2012). Historical dictionary of Hobbes’s philosophy, The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Malekyan, Mostafa (1998). History of West-ern Philosophy, Tehran: Publications of the Department and University Cooperation Office.
Martinich, A. P. (2005). "Hobbes". New York: Routledge.
Writers Group (2001). New Attitudes in Phi-losophy: Moral Philosophy by John Skropsky, translated by: Mohsen Ja-vadi, Tehran: Taha book Publica-tions.
Schottlender, M. (2007). Rationally deduced Morality in Thomas Hobbes’ “Levia-than”
Skinner, Quentin (2018). Foundations of Modern Political Thought, translated by: Kazem Firouzmand, Agah Publi-cations: Tehran, second edition.
Skinner, Quentin. (1996). Reason and Rhet-oric in the Philosophy of Hobbes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Skinner, Quentin. (2008). Hobbes and Re-publican Liberty, University of Cambridge
Sorell, Tom (1986). Hobbes, Routledge & Kegan Paul
Strauss L. (1952). The Political Philosophy of Hobbes. Its Basis and its Genesis. University of Chicago
Strauss, L. (1959). What Is Political Philoso-phy? And Other Studies (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Strauss, Leo (1994). Natural Law and Histo-ry, translated by Bagher Parham, Tehran: Age Publishing House.
Strauss, Leo (2002). What is political philos-ophy? Translation of Farhang Rajaee Scientific and Cultural Publications: Tehran.
Tavana, Mohammad Ali, Allahdadi, Nafiseh (2017). Violence in Hobbes' Civil Status: Rethinking Leviathan, Theo-retical Policy Research Journal, (22): 1-27.
Taylor, Alfred. (1938). “The Ethical Doc-trine of Hobbes.” Philosophy 13, no. 52: 406–24.
Tolonen, Mikko. (2009). Self-Love and Self-Liking in the Moral and Political Philo ، sophy of Bernard Mandeville and David Hume. PhD., University of Helsinki.
Tuck, R. (1993). Philosophy and Govern-ment, 1572-1651, Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press.
Tuck, R. (2006). Moral philosophy. Cam-bridge University Press. Pp. 175-207.
Tuck, Richard (1997). Hobbes. Translated by Hossein Bashiryeh, first edition, new design: Tehran.
Warrender, Howard. (1957). The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: His Theory of Obligation. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Zagorin, Perez (2009). Hobbes and the Law of Nature Publisher: Princeton Uni-versity Press; First Edition (1st print-ing) (December 6, 2009)