Hobbes: Morals and Politics

Hobbes is perhaps the most enjoyable and provocative of political thinkers. His writing surprises, shocks, captivates, amuses and, above all, stimulates criticism both of himself and of our conventional wisdom. He raises fundamental questions as much of ethics as of politics; his suggested answers make him one of the greatest of political philosophers and a highly acute thinker on ethics. This important book is both descriptive and critical, concentrating on Hobbes’s ethical and political theory, but also considering the effect on these on his metaphysics. D. D. Raphael provides a distinctive analysis of Hobbes’s account of artificial obligations and rights, the relation between obligation and causation and the continuing influence of mechanics on Hobbes’s psychology and ethical theory. He also includes a detailed survey of other interpretations. Updated, with a new preface and critical bibliography, this book will be particularly useful as an introduction for undergraduates of politics and philosophy.