Morality in the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes: Cases in the Law of Nature

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 11
Introduction......Page 19
Part One: Moral Philosophy, Method and Matter......Page 29
1 Moral Judgments......Page 31
Reciprocity and the Right of Nature......Page 36
Reciprocity and the Duty to Submit to Government......Page 43
How Much Authority Must Be Public?......Page 45
Reciprocity and the True Liberties of Subjects......Page 46
Who Is the Legitimate Ruler?......Page 50
Reciprocity and the Duties of Sovereigns toward Subjects......Page 51
National Defense......Page 53
Domestic Peace......Page 54
Prosperity......Page 57
Liberty......Page 58
Doctrine and Religion......Page 62
Provision for the Future Good......Page 65
Reciprocity and Consensual Obligations......Page 67
The Laws of Nature......Page 70
2 Moral Judges: Human Nature and Motivation......Page 74
Self-Preservation......Page 78
The State of Nature and Natural Man......Page 91
Desire, Good, and Will......Page 96
The Complex Motivations of Hobbesian Agents......Page 103
Motivating Rebellion, Reason and the Desire for Self-Justification......Page 107
Part Two: From Psychology to Moral Philosophy......Page 113
3 The Law of Nature: Definition and Function......Page 115
Candidate Definitions......Page 117
The Strict Definition: What a Law of Nature Is......Page 119
Being and Being Called......Page 121
Doing, Being, and Being Called......Page 122
Being, and Being That by Which Something Else Is Achieved......Page 124
The Ultimate Function of the Laws of Nature......Page 128
Overt Text......Page 130
Clarifying and Motivating the Common Good Account......Page 132
An Argument for the Common Good Account from the Implausibility of the Alternative......Page 138
Hobbes's Specific Rationales for Specific Laws of Nature......Page 149
Sovereigns and the Laws of Nature......Page 152
The Sum of the Laws of Nature and a Telling Illustration......Page 155
An Intriguing Omission: The Puzzling Case of the Missing Virtues......Page 158
A Conceptual Argument for the Common Good Account......Page 161
The Final Law of Nature......Page 164
Constructive Reciprocity and Temptation......Page 166
4 A Critical Examination of Derivations of the Laws of Nature......Page 169
Traditional Desire-Based Derivations......Page 170
Step 1: Settling a Starting Assumption......Page 172
Steps 2, 3, and 4: Traditional Desire-Based Accounts......Page 178
Rule-Utility Versions of Desire-Based Derivations......Page 182
A Rule-Egoist Derivation of the Laws of Nature......Page 183
Objections to Argument One......Page 186
Argument Two......Page 189
Objections to Argument Two on Its Narrowly Textual Interpretation......Page 190
Objection to Argument Two on Its Optative Interpretation......Page 191
Rule-Egoism within Hobbes's Theory......Page 192
Objection That Hobbes's Right of Nature Becomes Otiose......Page 194
The Problem of Subjectivism......Page 198
Divine Command Derivations......Page 200
Gert's "Rationally Required End" Duty-Based Derivation......Page 203
Definitional Derivations of the Laws of Nature......Page 208
Distinguishing Definitional Derivations......Page 209
Deigh's Definitional Derivation of the Laws of Nature......Page 213
McNeilly's Definitional Derivation of the Laws of Nature......Page 224
5 The Reciprocity Interpretation of Hobbes's Moral Philosophy......Page 229
Overview of the Intuitive Argument......Page 230
Hobbes's Aim, Method, and the Substantive Assumptions They Dictate......Page 232
Phase 1: Derivation of the Law of Nature (the Reciprocity Theorem)......Page 237
Conflict over Action Description......Page 243
The Reasonable and the Rational......Page 248
The Reciprocity Theorem in the Context of Hobbes's Overall Political Argument......Page 252
Phase 2: From the Reciprocity Theorem to the Universal Right of Nature......Page 254
Phase 3: From the Universal Right of Nature to the Right of All to All......Page 258
Stage 2: From Perpetual War to the Fundamental Law of Nature......Page 259
Desire, Good, Will, and Power......Page 260
Stage Two......Page 264
Phase 5: From the Fundamental Law of Nature to the Obligation to Submit to Government (OSG)......Page 265
Law, Reason, and the Desire for Self-Justification......Page 266
Hobbes in the Social Contract Tradition......Page 270
Part Three: From Moral Philosophy to Civil Philosophy......Page 279
6 Self-Effacing Natural Law and the Duty to Submit to Government......Page 281
What Law Is......Page 284
How Natural Law Dictates That Submission to Political Authority That Grounds Positive Law......Page 286
The Third Law of Nature......Page 287
The Fundamental Law of Nature......Page 288
The Summary Formulation of the Laws of Nature......Page 291
Sovereign as Universal Authoritative Arbiter......Page 297
Textual Support for the Self-Effacing Interpretation of Hobbes's Natural Laws......Page 299
Liberty, Obligation, and Law......Page 307
7 Fools, Hypocrites, Zealots, and Dupes: Civic Character and Social Stability......Page 313
The Foole......Page 314
The Foole's Folly......Page 320
Hoekstra's Explicit Foole......Page 328
Prudence, Wisdom, and the Folly of Sedition......Page 335
Pride and Folly......Page 340
The Dupe......Page 344
The Zealot......Page 346
The Hypocrite......Page 347
A General Diagnosis of Destabilizing Characters, and a Prescription for Impeding Their Formation and Minimizing Their Effects......Page 349
Civic Education......Page 350
Mechanisms of Education......Page 353
Civic Education, Ideology, and Coercion......Page 355
8 The Unity of Practical Wisdom......Page 374
Religion and the Requirements of Moral and Civil Duty......Page 376
The Independence of Political Theory......Page 392
Contemporary Uses of Hobbes's Normative Philosophy......Page 394
a. Textual Inadequacy......Page 399
b. Conceptual Incoherence......Page 402
Bibliography......Page 429
Index......Page 433