Thomas Hobbes and the science of moral virtue

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Thomas Hobbes and the science of moral virtue

David Boonin-Vail

Cambridge University Press, 1994

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 202-214) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In Leviathan Thomas Hobbes defines moral philosophy as 'the science of Virtue and Vice', yet few modern readers take this description seriously. Moreover, it is typically assumed that Hobbes' ethical views are unrelated to his views of science. Influential modern interpreters have portrayed Hobbes as either an amoralist, or a moral contractarian, or a rule egoist, or a divine command theorist. David Boonin-Vail challenges all these assumptions and presents a new, and very unorthodox, interpretation of Hobbes's ethics. He shows that Hobbes is best understood as embracing a theory of virtue concerned with the development of good character traits rather than with rules of behaviour. In focusing in a quite new way on Hobbes's moral theory this book is likely to attract considerable attention amongst both philosophers and intellectual historians.

Table of Contents

  • Part I. Hobbes's Project and its Critics: 1. Prelude
  • 2. Background
  • 3. Overview
  • Part II. The Science of Human Nature: 2. Overview
  • 3. Scientific method
  • 4. Body
  • 5. Animated body
  • 6. Rational animated body
  • 7. Mortal rational animated body
  • Part III. The Theory of Moral Virtue: 1. Overview
  • 2. Does Hobbes have a moral theory? 3. Hobbes as moral contractarian
  • 4. Hobbes as rule egoist
  • 5. Hobbes as divine command theorist
  • 6. Hobbes as virtue ethicist
  • Part IV. From Science to Virtue: 1. Overview
  • 2. The state of nature
  • 3. The laws of nature
  • 4. The argument from revealed disposition 5. The argument from habituation
  • Part V. Hobbes and the Revival of Virtue Ethics: 1. Overview
  • 2. Hobbes and Aristotle
  • 3. Moderate and radical virtue ethics
  • The genus of virtue
  • The goodness of virtue
  • Footnotes
  • References.

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