New volume edited by S. A. Lloyd provides a state-of-the-art overview of the central elements of Hobbes’s political philosophy and the ways in which they can be interpreted.
A Special Issue of Hobbes Studies on “The Reception of Hobbes in Germany” is now available.
A chapter on Oakeshott’s and Strauss’s reading of Hobbes in a volume on Michael Oakeshott and Leo Strauss.
A new entry by Marcus Adams on Hobbes’s philosophy of science in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP).
In this article Feisal G. Mohamed explores the links between Thomas Hobbes’s legal theory and Carl Schmitt’s reception of what he called the “protection- obedience axiom”.
A new article by Andrea Bardin on materialism and right reason in Hobbes’s political philosophy.
A new article on Hobbes and religion.
A book on the passions of knowledge from Montaigne to Hobbes contains six chapters on Hobbes.
In Leviathan, Hobbes outlines the concept of the ‘Kingdome of God by Nature’ or ‘Naturall Kingdome of God’, terms rarely found in English texts at the time. This article traces the concept back to the Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), which sets forth a threefold understanding of God’s kingdom – the kingdoms of nature, grace, and glory – none of which refer to civil commonwealths on earth. Hobbes abandons this Catholic typology and transforms the concept of the natural kingdom of God to advance a claim often missed by his interpreters: Leviathan-states are the manifestation of a real, not metaphorical, kingdom of God. This argument plays a key role in Leviathan, which identifies the kingdom of God as the Christian doctrine most subject to abuse. Hobbes harshly criticizes Catholic and Presbyterian clergy for claiming to represent God’s kingdom. This claim, he argues, comes with the subversive implication that the church possesses spiritual and temporal authority, and caused great turmoil during the English Civil War. As an alternative, Hobbes points to civil commonwealths as the manifestation of God’s natural kingdom, which is the only form his kingdom currently takes.
A new article addressing the problem of the power seeker and the role of honor in Hobbes’s political philosophy.
