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9 - Hobbes's absolutism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2010

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Summary

The sovereign power is not to be resisted.

–Hobbes (EL 8.6)

Hobbes evidently thought he had in his political theory demonstrated both the necessity and the desirability of political absolutism. He took himself to have provided a solid argument for rendering absolute obedience to any existing effective political authority – an argument that could justify such unconditional obedience. The standard philosophical interpreters have typically disagreed with Hobbes's assessment of his success in this endeavor. Given the standard interpreters' accounts of Hobbes's analysis of social disorder, of his conception of human nature, and of his conception of individual rationality, those interpreters have convincingly argued that absolutism simply does not follow from Hobbes's argument. Some have argued that Hobbes failed to establish his claim that the only alternative to political absolutism is anarchy, thus failing to establish the need for political absolutism; and that because there is a more appealing intermediate possibility, he failed also to establish the desirability of absolutism. Others have argued that Hobbes's conception of human nature makes it impossible for him to offer any alternative to anarchy at all, because although it's true that only submission to an absolute state could increase the security of Hobbesian men, they are not sufficiently tractable for it to be possible for them so to submit themselves. So even if Hobbes has shown in some abstract sense the necessity and desirability of political absolutism, the impossibility of it undermines the success of his argument for absolutism.

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Ideals as Interests in Hobbes's Leviathan
The Power of Mind over Matter
, pp. 289 - 321
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1992

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  • Hobbes's absolutism
  • S. A. Lloyd
  • Book: Ideals as Interests in Hobbes's Leviathan
  • Online publication: 08 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611971.011
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  • Hobbes's absolutism
  • S. A. Lloyd
  • Book: Ideals as Interests in Hobbes's Leviathan
  • Online publication: 08 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611971.011
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Hobbes's absolutism
  • S. A. Lloyd
  • Book: Ideals as Interests in Hobbes's Leviathan
  • Online publication: 08 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611971.011
Available formats
×