Hobbes's System Of Ideas: A Study In The Political Significance Of Philosophical Theories
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Acceptable
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: some glue residue on the endpapers; pages can have minimal notes and/or underlining in grey lead
At the turbulent crossroads of political thought and philosophical inquiry stands Thomas Hobbes — a thinker whose radical ideas about power, sovereignty, and human nature continue to unsettle and provoke centuries after they were first conceived. In Hobbes's System of Ideas, J. W. N. Watkins presents a rigorous and penetrating study of how Hobbes's philosophical framework underpins his political theory, arguing that the two cannot be meaningfully separated — that to understand Leviathan, one must first reckon with Hobbes's mechanistic view of the universe, his materialism, and his doctrine of causation. Watkins traces the internal logic of Hobbes's thought with scholarly precision, illustrating how a coherent system of ideas — from natural philosophy to the state of nature — converges upon the justification of absolute sovereign authority. Watkins, writing as Reader in the History of Philosophy at the University of London, brings analytical rigour and intellectual clarity to one of the most contested figures in Western political philosophy. The work sits firmly within the tradition of philosophical history that insists ideas must be understood on their own systematic terms, not merely as reflections of social circumstance. For scholars of political thought, philosophy of science, and early modern intellectual history, this volume is an indispensable guide — and for the curious reader, it poses a question that remains startlingly relevant: can a philosophy built on fear and self-interest truly serve as the foundation of a just society?
Author: J. W. N. Watkins
Format: Hardback
Published: 1965, Hutchinson University Library
Genre: Philosophy
Condition remarks:
Book: Acceptable
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: some glue residue on the endpapers; pages can have minimal notes and/or underlining in grey lead
At the turbulent crossroads of political thought and philosophical inquiry stands Thomas Hobbes — a thinker whose radical ideas about power, sovereignty, and human nature continue to unsettle and provoke centuries after they were first conceived. In Hobbes's System of Ideas, J. W. N. Watkins presents a rigorous and penetrating study of how Hobbes's philosophical framework underpins his political theory, arguing that the two cannot be meaningfully separated — that to understand Leviathan, one must first reckon with Hobbes's mechanistic view of the universe, his materialism, and his doctrine of causation. Watkins traces the internal logic of Hobbes's thought with scholarly precision, illustrating how a coherent system of ideas — from natural philosophy to the state of nature — converges upon the justification of absolute sovereign authority. Watkins, writing as Reader in the History of Philosophy at the University of London, brings analytical rigour and intellectual clarity to one of the most contested figures in Western political philosophy. The work sits firmly within the tradition of philosophical history that insists ideas must be understood on their own systematic terms, not merely as reflections of social circumstance. For scholars of political thought, philosophy of science, and early modern intellectual history, this volume is an indispensable guide — and for the curious reader, it poses a question that remains startlingly relevant: can a philosophy built on fear and self-interest truly serve as the foundation of a just society?