Thomas Hobbes

Behemoth

The History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England, and the Councils and Artifices by which They Were Carried on from the Year 1640 to the Year 1660
Herausgeber: Ferdinand, Tönnies

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Written in the form of a dialogue between a witness and a student, Behemoth is Thomas Hobbes' angry, causal account of the English Civil War, the events of which created the context for his political philosophy, as elaborated in his seminal works, De Cive (1642) and Leviathan (1651). The narrative spans from the beginning of the Scottish revolution in 1637 until the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In his discussion of sedition, rebellion, the disintegration of authority, and his countrymen's false notions about liberty, government, property, and religion, Hobbes describes the catastrophic outcome of government abuse and agitation by the universities, the latter having proven to the nation 'as the wooden horse had been to the Trojans'. Although completed in 1668, Charles II, Hobbes' former pupil, flatly refused to licence it, not caring for a direct discussion on these controversial topics, and not least because, although a proponent on rational grounds of the sovereign's absolute power, Hobbes was, at the same time, an ambiguous royalist. The manuscript thus remained unpublished until the final year of Hobbes' life, when several pirate editions appeared abroad. Hobbes' regular publisher, William Crooke, responded in 1682 by publishing a corrective version, on which subsequent editions were based. Ferdinand Tönnies at last discovered the original manuscript in the late 19th century, enabling him to restore numerous passages later deleted by the author, thereby supplying, in 1889, the closest thing there is to a faithful rendition of the original text.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Hounskull Publishing
• Seitenzahl: 410
• Erscheinungstermin: 31. Mai 2018
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 222mm x 145mm x 28mm
• Gewicht: 722g
• ISBN-13: 9781910893005
• ISBN-10: 1910893005
• Artikelnr.: 53173696

Autorenporträt

Thomas Hobbes (5 April 1588 - 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, which expounded an influential formulation of social contract theory. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes also contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, the physics of gases, theology, ethics, and general philosophy. The English Civil War began in 1642, and when the royalist cause began to decline in mid-1644, some of the king's supporters fled to Europe. Many came to Paris and were known to Hobbes. In 1647, Hobbes took up a position as mathematical instructor to the young Charles, Prince of Wales, who had come to Paris from Jersey around July. This engagement lasted until 1648 when Charles went to Holland. The company of the exiled royalists led Hobbes to produce Leviathan, which set forth his theory of civil government in relation to the political crisis resulting from the war. Hobbes compared the State to a monster (leviathan) composed of men, created under pressure of human needs and dissolved by civil strife due to human passions. In 1658, Hobbes published the final section of his philosophical system, completing the scheme he had planned more than 20 years before. De Homine consisted for the most part of an elaborate theory of vision. From the time of the Restoration, he acquired a new prominence; "Hobbism" became a byword for all that respectable society ought to denounce. The young king, Hobbes' former pupil, now Charles II, remembered Hobbes and called him to the court to grant him a pension of £100.