Political Philosophy Workshop系列第一讲：Hobbes on Democracy and War

Political Philosophy Workshop

Organizer: Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai)，Sun Yat-sen University
Topic: Hobbes on Democracy and War
Speaker: Ethan Putterman
Moderator: Jun-Hyeok Kwak
Time: Sept. 22th, 16:00pm
Venue: Conference Room I, Administrative Building of SYSU, Zhuhai Campus.
Abstract:
Recent scholarship on Leviathan describes Thomas Hobbes as a surreptitious sympathizer of democracy. At the very least, according to Richard Tuck, George Shelton and S.A. Lloyd, among other distinguished authors writing in the past two decades, Hobbes’s political thought ought to be considered coherent and compatible with popular rule. Challenging this burgeoning tradition, I argue in my paper that democracy is wholly incompatible with the general project of Leviathan and inevitably leads to demagoguery and war. It is not only that the English philosopher rejects rule by large majorities but majority rule itself and for reasons that go beyond familiar arguments by Quentin Skinner, Jean Hampton and Kinch Hoekstra. Beyond this rejection of popular rule, Hobbes’s reflections on democracy in the Elements of Law, De Cive and Leviathan illuminate key problems for contemporary democratic theory.

Ethan Putterman is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore. He is a past Fellow of the Society for the Liberal Arts in the College at the University of Chicago.

Political Philosophy Workshop

Organizer: Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai)，Sun Yat-sen University
Topic: Hobbes on Democracy and War
Speaker: Ethan Putterman
Moderator: Jun-Hyeok Kwak
Time: Sept. 22th, 16:00pm
Venue: Conference Room I, Administrative Building of SYSU, Zhuhai Campus.
Abstract:
Recent scholarship on Leviathan describes Thomas Hobbes as a surreptitious sympathizer of democracy. At the very least, according to Richard Tuck, George Shelton and S.A. Lloyd, among other distinguished authors writing in the past two decades, Hobbes’s political thought ought to be considered coherent and compatible with popular rule. Challenging this burgeoning tradition, I argue in my paper that democracy is wholly incompatible with the general project of Leviathan and inevitably leads to demagoguery and war. It is not only that the English philosopher rejects rule by large majorities but majority rule itself and for reasons that go beyond familiar arguments by Quentin Skinner, Jean Hampton and Kinch Hoekstra. Beyond this rejection of popular rule, Hobbes’s reflections on democracy in the Elements of Law, De Cive and Leviathan illuminate key problems for contemporary democratic theory.

Ethan Putterman is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore. He is a past Fellow of the Society for the Liberal Arts in the College at the University of Chicago.

Political Philosophy Workshop系列第一讲

主办：中山大学哲学系（珠海）
主题：霍布斯论民主与战争
主讲人：Ethan Putterman（新加坡国立大学政治学副教授）
主持：郭峻赫教授
时间：2016年9月22日16:00
地点：中山大学珠海校区行政楼第一会议室
报告摘要：现今关于利维坦的研究将托马斯•霍布斯描述成为一位隐秘的民主支持者。至少，根据理查德•塔克，乔治•谢尔顿以及S.A.劳埃德的观点，在过去二十多年中，和其他杰出学者相比，霍布斯的政治思想更为符合学界普遍接受的理念。为了挑战这一新兴传统，我在本文中论述，民主从根本上是与《利维坦》不相符的，并且不可避免地将引向谣言和战争。这不仅仅是因为这位英国哲学家拒绝少数服从多数原则，还因为这种多数决定原则本身因种种原因已超出了昆汀•斯金纳，基恩•汉普顿还有金奇•霍克斯特拉的讨论范畴。霍布斯在《法的要素》、《论公民》以及《利维坦》中对于民主制度的反思，不仅是对传统政治学观点的反驳，更是阐明现当代民主问题的关键。