Thomas Hobbes: Writings on Common Law & Hereditary Right (Clarendon Edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes)
Oz Conservative (Free subscription) | 10/27/2009
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was one of the founders of modernist philosophy. I've always thought that his account of human nature was radically and obviously false. So it was with considerable interest that I began to read the section on Hobbes in Jean Bethke Elshtain's book Sovereignty: God, State, and Self . Professor Elshtain begins her account of Hobbes (in a section titled Hobbes: the Great Undoer...
Europe 1700-1914 (Free subscription) | 10/18/2009
Above is Frederick the Great's palace of Sans Souci at Potsdam, built in the style known as Frederician rococo. The Enlightenment was a dramatic new moment in the history of western Europe, marking a new cultural divide. As Alexander Pope put it: Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night, God said, Let Newton be! and all was light. The beginning of the Enlightenment is difficult to determine. Scholars...
LATICONOMICS (Free subscription) | 10/12/2009
Elinor Ostrom on the Market, the State, and the Third Sector Understanding the remarkable achievements of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Dragos Aligica When economists show that market arrangements fail, they usually make the simple recommendation that “the” state should take care of these problems. Elinor Ostrom has demonstrated empirically that “the” state may not...
Westminster Wisdom (Free subscription) | 10/04/2009
An interview with Quentin Skinner, who though he never taught me, has taught me through his books and articles and who has been incredibly influential on my approach to history and to thought. I would urge watching it- some of it is personal to Skinner and his circle but much of it is about the world of learning he inhabits- Machiavelli, Hobbes, Wittgenstein and Collingwood- and furthermore the argument...
endiana.com (Free subscription) | 09/09/2009
Tired of terms such as Keynesians, leftists and socialists . . . Thomas Hobbes (April 5, 1588 – December 4, 1679) was an English philosopher best known for his book, Leviathan, which adamently defended the sovereignty of the head of state which, at the time his book was published in 1651, was effectively vacant, Oliver Cromwell having poked a hole in the royal susuccession of monarchs with Charles...
Locusts & Honey (Free subscription) | 08/30/2009
I'm considering reading Wiker's book , in which he lists fifteen books that he thinks created or spread poisonous ideologies that have only harmed humanity. Here are those books with what appears to be (at a very quick glance) Wiker's primary critique. 1. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. The author advocated that leaders divorce themselves from moral standards. 2. Discourse on Method by Rene Descartes....
Some landscapes (Free subscription) | 08/10/2009
Undoubtedly one of the best books I've ever read on landscape is Marjorie Hope Nicolson's Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory (1959). Here is a brief extract in which she cites Thomas Hobbes as an example of the tendency to denigrate mountain scenery, writing at a time when mountains were still viewed with distaste or fear. 'In 1636 the still unknown tutor of the youthful William Cavendish, later second...
AppShopper.com: Price Changes (Free subscription) | 07/30/2009
Philosophy - The Essential Collection 2.2 Category: Books Price: $1.99 -> $0.99 ( iTunes ) Description: This collection of classic philosophical treatises and essays is an essential reference for students of philosophy and those who wish to reflect seriously the nature of reality, morality, and human existence. The single volume includes: * Discourse on the Method by Rene Descartes * Leviathan...
EconLog (Free subscription) | 07/25/2009
Steven Pinker writes the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes got it right. Life in a state of nature is nasty, brutish, and short--not because of a primal thirst for blood but because of the inescapable logic of anarchy. Any beings with a modicum of self-interest may be tempted to invade their neighbors and steal their resources. The resulting fear of attack will tempt the neighbors to strike first...
In a Godward direction (Free subscription) | 07/06/2009
The English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, in his great work Leviathan , posited that the good of the corporate political body transcended the rights of the individual members as a way of ensuring the greatest well-being for the whole. This idea received more precise formulation in the work of philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham, and there were echoes of it in early communism as well. We find...
Gates of Vienna (Free subscription) | 06/15/2009
Fjordman’s latest essay, “Britain: From Parliament to Police State”, has been published at Democracy Reform . Some excerpts are below. I am aware of the fact that some British people speak of Europe as “somewhere else,” to which they do not belong. In my opinion, Britain is very much a part of European civilization whether they want to admit so or not, but I am willing...
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