Patrick Craig

Defense Date

10-3-2014

Graduation Date

2014

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Philosophy

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Daniel Selcer

Committee Member

Fred Evans

Committee Member

James Swindal

Committee Member

Douglas Jesseph

Keywords

Democracy, Multitude, Politics, Scientific Method, Thomas Hobbes

Abstract

My dissertation provides a treatment of Hobbes's politics in light of his conception of scientific method. The scholarship devoted to these two components of Hobbes's thought, that is his account of scientific method and his political philosophy, have largely existed in isolation from one another. Reading his politics through the lens of his account of scientific method, I bring two bodies of research on Hobbes together, and in so doing, offer a unique account of his political philosophy. When Hobbes's political philosophy is approached in the way I suggest, what one finds is not a simple defense of authoritarian absolutism, but instead a much more progressive political theory, one that is structured around the democratic power of "the people" as a constitutive political force.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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