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Hobbes had distinctive views in metaphysics and epistemology, and wrote about such subjects as history, law, and religion.He also produced full-scale treatises in physics, optics, and geometry.All of these areas are covered in this Companion, most in considerable detail. The volume also reflects the multidisciplinary nature of current Hobbes scholarship by drawing together perspectives on Hobbes that are now being developed in parallel by philosophers, historians of science and mathematics, intellectual historians, political scientists, and literary theorists.Amazon.com Review
It is for Leviathan, his controversial work of political philosophy, that Thomas Hobbes is best known, but his interests extended beyond morals and politics to metaphysics and epistemology, physics and geometry, history and law, and biblical interpretation. (Also, he wrote his autobiography at the age of 84--in Latin verse!) Thus the aim of The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes is "to offer a much broader view of Hobbes's intellectual preoccupations than is usually available," and "to bring together the different perspectives on Hobbes that are now being developed in parallel by philosophers, historians of mathematics and science, historians of early modern England, political scientists, and writers of literary studies." It succeeds admirably, rising to a challenge set by the man himself: "It must be extremely hard to find out the opinions and meanings of those men that are gone from us long ago, and have left us no other signification thereof but their books."

The Companion follows the order of Hobbes's own system, working from physics to psychology to politics. His views on psychology, moral philosophy, and political philosophy--traditionally considered the crucial topics of his system--are expertly handled by Bernard Gert, Richard Tuck, and Alan Ryan. Perhaps more gratifying are the essays on less familiar topics: Yves Charles Zarka reveals Hobbes's unexpected commitment to what superficially looks like Aristotelian metaphysics, while Hardy Grant discusses his career in mathematics, a diversion marred by an embarrassing claim to have squared the circle. --Glenn Branch ... Read more

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Edited by William Molesworth. This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1844 edition by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London. ... Read more

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In 1625, Charles I inherited not only his father's crown, but also his desire to run the country without interference from Parliament. But many members of Parliament opposed the King on issues of taxation, religion and the royal prerogative. It was in this historical context that Hobbes presented a political philosophy that, at least in his opinion, achieved the status of a science, in a nation that was 'boiling hot with questions concerning the rights of dominion and the obedience due from subjects'. In this important new book, Stephen J. Finn argues that, contrary to the traditional interpretation, Hobbes's political views influence his theoretical and natural philosophy and not the other way about. Such an interpretation, it is argued, provides a better appreciation of Hobbes's writings, both philosophical and political. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The First Modern Political Philosopher
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) wrote "Leviathan" in 1651, it was his most important philosophical work.I think you should know something of Hobbes to understand how his thinking was influenced by his experiences.He was born 2 months prematurely on the day the Spanish Armada approaches the English coast.His mother's fear of invasion caused the premature birth.Hobbes remarked late in life, "his mother brought forth twins-myself and fear."Fear seems to be Hobbes life long companion and the key passion in his political system, which uses human passions as its foundation.He was a child prodigy reading Latin and Greek at the age of six years old.At fifteen, he entered Oxford University and hated his educational experience there.He thought the curriculum was too immersed in the ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle.He called them "erroneous doctrines," and throughout his life he railed against English universities for there stodgy curriculum.

At the age of 22, he graduates and takes a job to tutor the son of the Earl of Devonshire.It gives him the opportunity to travel throughout Europe where he meets with Galileo in Florence and Descartes in Paris.Descartes calls Hobbes the greatest political philosopher of his day.During the British civil war, Hobbes flees to Paris because he is a well-known monarchist sympathizer.In 1651, he publishes his monumental work "Leviathan."He returns to England, submits to Cromwell's government, and withdraws from politics.He is on friendly terms with Charles II when the Stuart's are restored to the throne.

Hobbes philosophy is "materialistic"; he is greatly influenced by Galileo's mechanistic approach to science, and Euclidian geometry.His ambition was to explain all phenomena, man, and government with mathematical precision.In "Leviathan," he explains human conduct is a product of human passions.The most dominant passions are fear of violent death and desire for power, both are manifestations of man's most basic impulse, "self preservation."Hobbes asserts that the basic impulse is the right of the individual; he calls it a "natural right."All men process this natural right equally.This theory leads Hobbes to believe man's natural state to be one of constant conflict with each other.This leads him to write the following quote he is most known for: "men's lives are solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."So as not to have to live in constant state of fear or conflict, men make a contract for protection with the state.Hobbes believes that the best state is one led by a single sovereign whose power must be unrestricted with all three branches of government devolving to him.A single sovereign who has absolute power and cannot be replaced by the people.

His political writing had immediate influence in the world and influences other philosophers like Spinoza, Hutcheson, Locke, and Hume.Hobbes is the first man to write about political philosophy in such methodical terms.He is an excellent writer and his theories are easy to understand by the laymen.As a graduate student of political philosophy, I recommend if you have an interest in politics, philosophy, or government then you must start with reading Hobbes "Leviathan."
... Read more

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Do human beings ever act freely, and if so what does freedom mean? Is everything that happens antecedently caused, and if so how is freedom possible? Is it right, even for God, to punish people for things they cannot help doing? This volume presents the famous seventeenth-century controversy in which Thomas Hobbes and John Bramhall debate these questions and others. The complete texts of their initial contributions to the debate are included, together with selections from their subsequent replies to one another and from other works of Hobbes. ... Read more

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This title contains the most helpful version of Hobbes' political and moral philosophy available in English. It includes the only English translation of "De Homine", chapters X-XV. It features the English translation of "De Cive" attributed to Hobbes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The best (and in the case of De Homine) the only translation out there
As far as I know, this is only translation of De Homine (Man) out there, while the translation of De Cive (Citizen) is very well done, could be the best out there. One can tell that the three scholars who helped put together this translation, tried to translate with as little of their own interpretation as possible, coming up with a text that captures Hobbes' style and language and is not too entirely vague in itself (though Hobbes is ambiguous himself). These two works, though not as brilliant as Leviathan, give a more thorough understanding of Hobbes' views, especially on the state of nature. I would definitely say De homine is worth reading, while De Cive's ideas are better constructed in The Leviathan. Also, Bernard Gert writes a comprehensive, insightful introduction.

The First Modern Political Philosopher
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) wrote "Leviathan" in 1651, it was his most important philosophical work.I think you should know something of Hobbes to understand how his thinking was influenced by his experiences.He was born 2 months prematurely on the day the Spanish Armada approaches the English coast.His mother's fear of invasion caused the premature birth.Hobbes remarked late in life, "his mother brought forth twins-myself and fear."Fear seems to be Hobbes life long companion and the key passion in his political system, which uses human passions as its foundation.He was a child prodigy reading Latin and Greek at the age of six years old.At fifteen, he entered Oxford University and hated his educational experience there.He thought the curriculum was too immersed in the ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle.He called them "erroneous doctrines," and throughout his life he railed against English universities for there stodgy curriculum.

At the age of 22, he graduates and takes a job to tutor the son of the Earl of Devonshire.It gives him the opportunity to travel throughout Europe where he meets with Galileo in Florence and Descartes in Paris.Descartes calls Hobbes the greatest political philosopher of his day.During the British civil war, Hobbes flees to Paris because he is a well-known monarchist sympathizer.In 1651, he publishes his monumental work "Leviathan."He returns to England, submits to Cromwell's government, and withdraws from politics.He is on friendly terms with Charles II when the Stuart's are restored to the throne.

Hobbes philosophy is "materialistic"; he is greatly influenced by Galileo's mechanistic approach to science, and Euclidian geometry.His ambition was to explain all phenomena, man, and government with mathematical precision.In "Leviathan," he explains human conduct is a product of human passions.The most dominant passions are fear of violent death and desire for power, both are manifestations of man's most basic impulse, "self preservation."Hobbes asserts that the basic impulse is the right of the individual; he calls it a "natural right."All men process this natural right equally.This theory leads Hobbes to believe man's natural state to be one of constant conflict with each other.This leads him to write the following quote he is most known for: "men's lives are solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."So as not to have to live in constant state of fear or conflict, men make a contract for protection with the state.Hobbes believes that the best state is one led by a single sovereign whose power must be unrestricted with all three branches of government devolving to him.A single sovereign who has absolute power and cannot be replaced by the people.

His political writing had immediate influence in the world and influences other philosophers like Spinoza, Hutcheson, Locke, and Hume.Hobbes is the first man to write about political philosophy in such methodical terms.He is an excellent writer and his theories are easy to understand by the laymen.As a graduate student of political philosophy, I recommend if you have an interest in politics, philosophy, or government then you must start with reading Hobbes "Leviathan."
... Read more

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In this classic analysis, Leo Strauss pinpoints what is original and innovative in the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. He argues that Hobbes's ideas arose not from tradition or science but from his own deep knowledge and experience of human nature. Tracing the development of Hobbes's moral doctrine from his early writings to his major work The Leviathan, Strauss explains contradictions in the body of Hobbes's work and discovers startling connections between Hobbes and the thought of Plato, Thucydides, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, and Hegel.

Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was Robert Maynard Hutchins Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in political science at the University of Chicago. Among his works published by the University of Chicago Press are Thoughts on Machiavelli, The City and Man, and Natural Right and History. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a note on latin
I just want to note that quotations from Latin in this book are left untranslated so if you are not familiar with this language, a scholarly reading may require additonal work on your part.

Know Your Hobbes
Leo Strauss, in his first printed work, does a superb job of distilling Hobbes essential ideas on man.By showing us the educational background of Hobbes and the philosophers he read Strauss, shows how Hobbes comes to believe that "man acts out of fear of death".The preservation of life is the primary goal of man in the "Hobbesean" world."Vanity is the force that makes men blind, fear is the force which makes men see".

Strauss points out that Hobbes started out as a classical political philosopher who was influenced by his readings of Aristotle and Plato.Not until Hobbes was forty years old and he discovered the works of Euclid did Hobbes move away from the "humanist" view to a more "scientific" approach to political philosophy.Euclid teaches Hobbes that politics must have a philosophy; it can't just be studied through history. Hobbes criticism of Aristotle and historism was; "that the historian takes the great as his standard, while the philosopher is concerned with the right and true". Hobbes is the first to see clearly between "right" and "law" the state is founded on the "right" "law" is a mere consequence.Strauss points out that, "Hobbes becomes the first philosopher to realize that politics can be raised to the rank of science".

This book is not an easy read for the casual reader but is essential for one to understand the concept of political philosophy.

Strauss before Strauss
I read somewhere that Strauss carried this book in a water-tight container when he crossed the channel to England so that, even if the ship went down, his work would survive. However that may be, it is the rare opportunity tosee Strauss genuinely struggle with a problem. The prevailing opinion, I amtold, is that Hobbes' science, or the discovery of Galileo'sanalytic-synthetic method, was the origin of Hobbes political philosophy(the analysis of the prevailing order (state of nature), the synthesis orconstruction of a new order (Leviathan)). Strauss makes the convincingargument that not the scientific method, but instead Aristotelian humanism(in particular, the anthropology of the Rhetoric) was the"source" for Hobbes' Staatslehre. Central to this is a critiqueof aristocratism, and the aristocratic valorization of courage. Not couragebut cowardice and the fear of death is the ruling passion of the Hobbesianbourgeois (if Bloom learned anything from Strauss, it was that). Inparticular, Hobbes borrowed from the Rhetoric the treatment of anger, inwhich the most asocial human passion is the desire for revenge (andjustice). Strauss later repudiated (in Natural Right) the argument againstHobbes scientism, but the point was made. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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State of Nature or Eden? Thomas Hobbes and his Contemporaries on the Natural Condition of Human Beings aims to explain how Hobbes' state of nature was understood by a contemporary readership, whose most important reference point for such a condition was the original condition of human beings at the creation, in other words in Eden. The book uses ideas about how readers brought their own reading of other texts to any reading, that reading is affected by the context in which the reader reads, and that the Bible was the model for all reading in the early modern period. It combines these ideas with the primary evidence of the contemporary critical reaction to Hobbes, to reconstruct how Hobbes' state of nature was read by his contemporaries. The book argues that what determined how Hobbes' seventeenth century readers responded to his description of the state of nature were their views on the effects of the Fall. Hobbes' contemporary critics, the majority of whom were Aristotelians and Arminians, thought that the Fall had corrupted human nature, although not to the extent implied by Hobbes' description. Further, they wanted to look at human beings as they should have been, or ought to be. Hobbes, on the other hand, wanted to look at human beings as they were, and in doing so was closer to Augustinian, Lutheran and Reformed interpretations, which argued that nature had been inverted by the Fall. For those of Hobbes' contemporaries who shared these theological assumptions, there were important parallels to be seen between Hobbes' account and that of scripture, although on some points his description could have been seen as a subversion of scripture. The book also demonstrates that Hobbes was working within the Protestant tradition, as well as showing how he used different aspects of this tradition. ... Read more

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Dual language edition (original Latin as originally printed verso facing authoritative English translation of same page recto).

Tranlated by Aloysuis P. Martinich.

Edited with an introduction by Isabel Creed Hungerland and George R. Vick.

Part of the Janus Series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fills a need but pocked with important errors
Look this volume up on Google Scholar and read the detailed peer reviews before you decide to rely on it or use it for a course.Although the publisher has dubbed it "authoritative," its real virtue is that it is the only readily available English translation of the first, foundational section of Hobbes's systematic work, The Elements of Philosophy. It fills a real need because the Elements were composed and first published in Latin - which few people read anymore - and Hobbes altered the text significantly in producing his own English version.

Unfortunately, Martinich's translation contains a number of errors.Perhaps the most important is his confusion of 'demonstration' and 'proof', a distinction crucial to understanding Hobbes's views on method. It was also one of the lynchpins in Hobbes's long, acrimonious debate with the English algebraist John Wallis.In the 17th century, 'proof' still meant testing samples, whereas demonstration demanded a logically rigorous, fully general argument grounded in accepted axioms, explicit hypotheses, etc.Demonstration had to yield a conclusion that did not allow exceptions.Ideally, the author literally "showed" that the conclusion was necessarily true by walking the reader through a chain of causes connected entirely by watertight reasoning.A leaky demonstration was no demonstration at all.By contrast, proof by sampling was restricted to claims that were admittedly true for the most part or (for Wallis) relied on a sampling strategy that demonstrably identified all possible counterexamples and then checked them as individual cases.As Hobbes repeatedly pointed out, Wallis had not shown that his sampling method met the demands of geometrical rigor.The same issue arguably figured in Hobbes's debate with Robert Boyle.Moreover, Hobbes believed that the power of demonstration to compel assent was essential in holding together the agreement that underlies a settled commonwealth.Martinich's confusion on this point is thus an important, fundamental misunderstanding with implications that extend beyond mathematical debates all the way to Hobbes's political philosophy.

The introductory essay by Hungerford and Vick is neither authoritative nor the only interpretation on offer.In fact, it's rather peculiar.It too has been extensively reviewed in history and philosophy journals that are worth checking before you decide whether to buy this volume.If you're considering it for a course, you might want to offer it along with two or three others in order to give students a sense of the full range of views on Hobbes's philosophy of language. ... Read more

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This volume in the Clarendon Edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes contains his translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, edited by Eric Nelson. Hobbes translated the Homeric poems into English verse during the course of the 1670s, when he was already well into his eighties.These texts constitute his most extensive single undertaking, as well as his last major work. Yet, despite the explosion of interest in Hobbes over the last fifty years, this is the first modern critical edition of the Homer translations. Nelson provides extensive annotation detailing Hobbes's interactions with the Greek text of the epics and with other early-modern editions and commentaries, as well a substantial scholarly introduction placing Hobbes's enterprise in the wider context of Restoration politics and poetics. Nelson also offers a detailed analysis of the translations themselves, identifying the numerous instances in which Hobbes rewrites the poems in order to bring them into alignment with his views on politics, rhetoric, aesthetics, and theology.Hobbes's Iliadsand Odysses of Homer, Nelson suggests, should be regarded as a continuation of Leviathan by other means. This edition will be fascinating reading for anyone interested in early-modern political philosophy, literature, and classical studies. ... Read more

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Edited by William Molesworth.This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1840 edition by John Bohn, London. ... Read more

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Thomas Hobbes, the English 17^th century philosopher, and Carl Schmitt, Hitler’s ‘crown jurist’, a political thinker and author of an enigmatic book on Hobbes, are increasingly relevant today for two reasons. First, they address the problem of political order, so important when we witness failed states, the privatisation of war, and the rise of political violence that does not derive from the state. Secondly, they are both crucial sources for the use of mythology in politics; moreover, they address the key issue of our time, namely, the relation between politics and religion. This collection of important new essays addresses Hobbes and Schmitt as political thinkers, their importance for present-day politics and society, their conceptions of myth and politics, and Schmitt’s use of Hobbes in (and some say against) the Third Reich. When myth, violence and revelation re-emerge as political forces, it is important to understand Hobbes’s and Schmitt’s answers to the problems of their time – and to those of ours.

This book was based on a special issue of the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

Customer Reviews (1)

Dragging Hobbes through the mud
The copy I have of this book was written long before September 11, 2001.The Acknowledgements by Arnold A. Rogow are dated January 21, 1986.Rogow spent plenty of time with the papers and manuscripts of Hobbes at Chatsworth and in Silverthorne's House, Wiltshire.I have not been able to determine if Thomas Hobbes' mother ever wore combat boots, but people who have been to Stonehenge were within the county of Wiltshire:

Unhappily, apart from two brief references in John Aubrey's BRIEF LIVES, all that we know of Hobbes's mother has already been mentioned.In his account of Hobbes's life, first published in 1813, Aubrey stated that Hobbes's mother was a "Middleton" from Brokenborough, a hamlet close to Malmsbury, and that the Middletons were "a yeomanly family," that is, a family that owned enough land to provide itself, at least in good years, with a comfortable living.Aubrey may have been correct about the family name of Hobbes's mother and the village from which she came, but neither Brokenborough, nor nearby Westport, nor Malmsbury, nor any other Wiltshire town contains any record of a late-sixteenth-century family by the name of Middleton.(p. 20).

Things were not always happy in Malmsbury or nearby in Foxley.Hobbes left for Oxford in 1603, and a hearing began in the Salisbury Consistory Court that October against his father for libel.Both parties to the lawsuit were clergymen, and the father of the political philosopher did not do as he was told when he was ordered to do penance in Foxley church on February 5, 1604, after which the court on February 8 "pronounced the said Thomas Hobbes contumacious and ... excommunicate accordingly."(p. 27).There was another court hearing February 22, about a "violent assault" (p. 27) by the elder Hobbes in Malmesbury (see the picture of the churchyard on page 28) on the parson of Foxley, but by then he had moved closer to London.

Sometimes one can learn a lot about a philosopher by comparing him with an opposite point of view.I was familiar with Nietzsche before I realized how Walter Kaufmann was adopting Nietzsche's contempt for Kant.Both Kant and Nietzsche were familiar with Greek philosophers, but had opposing views of Socrates and Plato.Nietzsche and Hobbes might be considered similar in that both were weak in mathematics but learned ancient Greek early in life.Hobbes was fond of singing the songs of "Sir Henry Lawes (1596-1662), another Wiltshireman and the foremost songwriter of his day," (p. 225) while Nietzsche found the operas of his own time enchanting.Both went to schools which took great pride in what they taught.The big difference was that Nietzsche excelled and was given a university position in 1869, but Hobbes settled for being the tutor for seventeen-year-old Gervaise Clifton in 1629 and being on a European tour mainly in France in 1630.

Intelligence tests might not be capable of measuring the entire spectrum of human abilities, but they do measure something, and it is easy to guess that Arnold A. Rogow would score quite highly on modern forms of evaluation, while he keeps coming up with reasons for thinking that Thomas Hobbes was a dunce.Geometry is the example in Rogow's book for demonstrating how wrong Hobbes was capable of being.The founding members of the Royal Society did not consider Thomas Hobbes worthy of membership."Hobbes, who believed he had solved the problem of squaring the circle, a conundrum that had eluded the best mathematical minds from the beginning of time, ... eventually produced twelve different circle-squaring *solutions,* had not in fact solved the problem, though the more Wallis and others proved that he had not, the more Hobbes insisted that he had."(p. 196).

Prior to going to Oxford, Hobbes had translated Euripides' Medea from Greek into Latin.His first published work was a translation of Thucydides, which was ready for the press in 1628.(p. 78).This book compares three translations, finding a bias in Hobbes toward a view of the Athenian government that "much preferred it when `it was democratic in name, but in effect monarchial under Pericles.' "(p. 82).Hobbes is so closely identified with the need for a strong individual to rule that a critic, John Whitehall complained in 1651 that Hobbes would have the religion of each country selected by its ruler.At least Hobbes favored "the subordination of religion to the civil authority"(p. 238).

Is it difficult to think of ways in which Rogow could have pictured Hobbes as what is currently considered a chicken-hawk?In Chapter 6, "The First to Flee,"Hobbes went to Paris in 1640 when Scots invaded England.Strafford, the king's principal advisor, had been impeached for treason, and Hobbes personally felt that the fall of the sovereign King Charles I might be "the single worst calamity that could befall mankind"(p. 123).Strafford was later executed, Charles I was beheaded at the end of the decade that began with the Long Parliament, but Hobbes "lacked physical courage"(p. 125).Busy writing, "In a passage written more than ten years before Hobbes made his peace with Cromwell and urged, in LEVIATHAN, his fellow citizens to do the same, Hobbes argued that conquered subjects were as obligated to obey their conquerors as they previously had been to obey the ruler who was conquered. ... For no man can serve two masters."(p. 129).

I do not feel qualified to categorize the importance for political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes.Perhaps this book merely reflects the sour grapes of one who prefers books for company instead of the turmoil found in Parliament.A note on page 110 claims that a book of mathematics history in 1800 "assures us that according to word of mouth, Galileo gave Hobbes (while strolling near the Grand-ducal Pleasure Palace) the first idea that the doctrines of ethics [Sittenlehre] can be brought to a mathematical certainty by applying the principles of geometry." ... Read more

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This collection brings together major writings by Hobbes in English, including translations of some of his Latin works. ... Read more

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In this major study of the foundations of modern political theory, the eminent political philosopher Ross Harrison explains, analyzes, and criticizes the work of Hobbes, Locke and their contemporaries.He provides a complete account of the turbulent historical background that shaped the political, intellectual and religious content of this philosophy.The book explores the limits of political authority and the relationship of the legitimacy of government to the will of its people in non-technical, accessible prose. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Brilliant exposition and critical discussion
This is an excellent explication and critical discussion of the main themes in Hobbes's and Locke's political philosophy.Harrison sets up the intellectual background very well, in terms of such issues as skepticism, natural law, and the problem of political authority, and draws illuminating connections and comparisons with other philosophers such as Grotius and Pufendorf.Harrison usefully brings in other texts by Hobbes and Locke to shed light on the major concepts.His interpretations are convincing and philosophically acute, and get to the heart of the matter.Highly recommended.

Best comparison of Hobbes and Locke I've read
Harrison does a great job of putting Hobbes and Locke into comparative perspective.This makes it easier to understand both philosophers' concept of the state of nature and the social contract.Moreover, the book adds in material about contemporaries such as Filmer, Hooker, and Grotius which places the thought of Hobbes and Locke in the context of the intellectual history of the times.Whatever the merits of Harrison's conclusions, the process of getting there is engaging and enlightening. ... Read more

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This is the first volume of the "Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers". "Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers" provides comprehensive accounts of the works of seminal conservative thinkers from a variety of periods, disciplines and traditions - the first series of its kind. Even the selection of thinkers adds another aspect to conservative thinking, including not only theorists but also thinkers in literary forms and those who are also practitioners. The series comprises twenty volumes, each including an intellectual biography, historical context, critical exposition of the thinker's work, reception and influence, contemporary relevance, bibliography including references to electronic resources and an index. ... Read more