The A Priori Nature of the Political: Democracy and Scientific Method in Thomas Hobbes

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Philosophy

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Craig, Patrick

Contributors dc:contributor

• Daniel Selcer
• Fred Evans
• James Swindal
• Douglas Jesseph

• Democracy
• Multitude
• Politics
• Scientific Method
• Thomas Hobbes

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/438

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-1451