Hobbes Against Friendship: The Modern Marginalisation of an Ancient Political Concept
Gabriella Slomp, 978-3-030-95315-7, 978-3-030-95314-0, 3030953173, 978-3030953171, 9783030953171, 3030953149, 978-3030953140, 9783030953140, B09X43VRLS
English | 2022 | PDF | 7 MB | 176 Pages
This book explores why and how Thomas Hobbes – the 17th century founder of political science -- contributed to the modern marginalisation of ‘friendship’, a concept that stood in the foreground of ancient moral and political thought and that is currently undergoing a revival. The study shows that Hobbes did not question the occurrence of friendship; rather, he rejected friendship as an explanatory and normative principle of peace and cooperation. Hobbes’s stance was influential because it captured the spirit of modernity- its individualism, nominalism, practical scepticism, and materialism. Hobbes’s legacy has a bearing on contemporary debates about civic, international and global friendship.