POLB72H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Classical Liberalism, Body Politic, Empiricism
Document Summary
Biographical sketch and context: bo(cid:396)(cid:374) p(cid:396)e(cid:373)atu(cid:396)el(cid:455) i(cid:374) the (cid:373)idst of (cid:449)a(cid:396): (cid:862)fea(cid:396) a(cid:374)d i (cid:449)e(cid:396)e (cid:271)o(cid:396)(cid:374) t(cid:449)i(cid:374)s togethe(cid:396)(cid:863) hobbes, considered one of the most important political theorists in the english-speaking world. One of the earliest modern representatives of the social contrast tradition, translated into thucydides and writes in the midst of the english civil war. Leviathan provides the boldest support fro absolute political authority and the fiercest critique of anarchism. From epistemology to political theory: hobbes was an empiricist and a mechanistic materialist. Empiricism is a view according to which knowledge (what can be known) is derived from sensory experience (seeing, feeling etc) According to the mechanistic materialist view, human beings are no different than atoms in that we too are subject to the laws of motion. For hobbes, there is a close connection between natural science and social science. Knowledge of natural science can and should inform social science.
