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Thomas Hobbes is widely considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Although best known for his seminal book
Leviathan, Hobbes produced a wide range of writings, from translations of texts by Homer and Thucydides, to interpretations of Biblical books, to works devoted to geometry, optics, morality, and religion. Hobbes viewed himself as a systematic philosopher-presenting a unified method for theoretical and practical science.
In this new
Companion, a panel of leading scholars provides close textual engagement with the thought of Thomas Hobbes while philosophically probing his viewpoints concerning natural philosophy, mathematics, human nature, civil philosophy, religion, and more. This skillfully curated collection of essays presents readers with a number of entry points into Hobbes's thought and across his interconnected system of philosophy. Throughout the text, readers gain an appreciation of the unity and diversity of Hobbes's philosophy as they explore the reception of Hobbes by thinkers such as René Descartes, Margaret Cavendish, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant.
A Companion to Hobbes is an invaluable resource for all scholars and advanced students of early modern thought seeking to investigate the connecting points between Hobbes's metaphysics, epistemology, mathematics, natural philosophy, morality, and civil philosophy.
List of contents
Notes on Contributors viii
Introduction: The Presentation and Structure of Thomas Hobbes's Philosophy 1
Marcus P. Adams Abbreviations for Citations to Hobbes's Works 20
Part I First Philosophy, Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy 23 1 Hobbes's Unified Method for
Scientia 25
Helen Hattab 2 The Stoic Roots of Hobbes's Natural Philosophy and First Philosophy 45
Geoffrey Gorham 3 Hobbesian Mathematics and the Dispute with Wallis 57
Douglas Jesseph 4 Explanations in Hobbes's Optics and Natural Philosophy 75
Marcus P. Adams Part II Human Nature and Morality 91 5 "A Most Useful Economy": Hobbes on Linguistic Meaning and Understanding 93
R. W. McIntyre 6 Hobbes's Theory of the Good: Felicity by Anticipatory Pleasure 109
Arash Abizadeh 7 In search of "A Constant Civill Amity": Hobbes on Friendship and Sociability 125
Gabriella Slomp 8 Hobbes on Power and Gender Relations 139
Sandra Leonie Field 9 The State of Nature as a Continuum Concept 156
S. A. Lloyd 10 Hobbes's Minimalist Moral Theory 171
Michael J. Green Part III Civil Philosophy 185 11 Hobbesian Persons and Representation 187
Mónica Brito Vieira 12 Hobbes's Account of Authorizing a Sovereign 203
Rosamond Rhodes 13 The Strength and Significance of Subjects' Rights in
Leviathan 221
Eleanor Curran 14 Hobbes on Sovereignty and Its Strains 236
Tom Sorell 15 Hobbes on International Ethics 252
Johan Olsthoorn Part IV Religion 269 16 Against Philosophical Darkness: A Political Conception of Enlightenment 271
Luc Foisneau 17 Hobbes on Submission to God 287
Michael Byron 18 Thomas Hobbes and the Christian Commonwealth 303
Jeffrey Collins 19 Hobbes and Toleration 318
Johann Sommerville 20 Hobbes, Rome's Enemy 332
Franck Lessay 21 Hobbes and the Papal Monarchy 348
Patricia Springborg Part V Controversies and Reception 365 22 Body and Space in Hobbes and Descartes 367
Edward Slowik 23 Hobbes's Mechanical Philosophy and Its English Critics 381
John Henry 24 Cudworth as a Critic of Hobbes 398
Stewart Duncan 25 Cavendish and Hobbes on Causation 413
Marcy P. Lascano 26 Striving, Happiness, and the Good: Spinoza as Follower and Critic of Hobbes 431
Justin Steinberg 27 Hobbes and Astell on War and Peace 448
Jacqueline Broad 28 Hobbes and Hume on Human Nature: "Much of a Dispute of Words?" 463
Alexandra Chadwick 29 He Shows "Genius" and Is "More Useful than Pufendorf": Kant's Reception of Hobbes 478
Howard Williams 30 Catharine Macaulay and the Reception of Hobbes During the Eighteenth Century 492
Karen Green Index 505
About the author
Marcus P. Adams is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Albany and former Associate Editor of the journal
Hobbes Studies. His research focuses on perception and natural philosophy in Early Modern Philosophy, in particular on Thomas Hobbes and Margaret Cavendish.
