Interpreting Hobbes's Political Philosophy

The essays in this volume provide a state-of-the-art overview of the central elements of Hobbes's political philosophy and the ways in which they can be interpreted. The volume's contributors offer their own interpretations of Hobbes's philosophical method, his materialism, his psychological theory and moral theory, and his views on benevolence, law and civil liberties, religion, and women. Hobbes's ideas of authorization and representation, his use of the 'state of nature', and his reply to the unjust 'Foole' are also critically analyzed. The essays will help readers to orient themselves in the complex scholarly literature while also offering groundbreaking arguments and innovative interpretations. The volume as a whole will facilitate new insights into Hobbes's political theory, enabling readers to consider key elements of his thought from multiple perspectives and to select and combine them to form their own interpretations of his political philosophy.

List of contributors; Introduction; 1. Methodologies of interpreting Hobbes: historical and philosophical Adrian Blau; 2. Hobbes's political-philosophical project: science and subversion A. P. Martinich; 3. Hobbes's philosophical method and the passion of curiosity Gianni Paganini; 4. Hobbes, life, and the politics of self-preservation: the role of materialism in Hobbes's political philosophy Samantha Frost; 5. Human nature and motivation: Hamilton versus Hobbes Michael J. Green; 6. On benevolence and love of others Gabriella Slomp; 7. Interpreting Hobbes's moral theory: rightness, goodness, virtue, and responsibility S. A. Lloyd; 8. Interpreting Hobbes on civil liberties and rights of resistance Susanne Sreedhar; 9. Hobbes and Christian belief Johann Sommerville; 10. Hobbes on persons and authorization Paul Weithman; 11. The character and significance of the state of nature Peter Vanderschraaf; 12. Hobbes's confounding Foole Michael Byron; 13. 'Not a woman-hater', 'no rapist', or even inventor of 'the sensitive male'? Feminist interpretations of Hobbes's political theory and their relevance for Hobbes studies Eva Odzuck; 14. The productivity of misreading: interpreting Hobbes in an Hobbesian contractarian perspective Luc Foisneau; Bibliography; Index. opportunity.

S. A. Lloyd is Professor of Philosophy and Law at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Ideals as Interests in Hobbes's 'Leviathan' (Cambridge, 1992) and Morality in the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes (Cambridge, 2009), and the editor of The Bloomsbury Companion to Hobbes (2012) and Hobbes Today (Cambridge, 2013).