Matter and form : from natural science to political philosophy

著者

    • Ward, Ann

書誌事項

Matter and form : from natural science to political philosophy

[edited by] Ann Ward

Lexington Books, c2009

  • : cloth

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注記

Includes bibliographical references and index

内容説明・目次

内容説明

Matter and Form explores the relationship that has long existed between natural science and political philosophy. Plato's Socrates articulates the Ideas or Forms as an account of the ultimate source of causality in the cosmos. Aristotle's natural philosophy had a significant impact on his political philosophy: he argues that humans are by nature political animals, having their natural end in the city whose regime is hierarchically structured based on differences in moral and intellectual capacity. Medieval theorists attempt to synthesize classical natural and political philosophy with the revealed truths of scripture; they argue that divine reason structures an ordered universe, the awareness of which allows for psychic and political harmony among human beings. Enlightenment thinkers challenge the natural philosophy of classical and medieval philosophers, ushering in a more liberal political order. For example, for Hobbes, there is no rest in nature as there are no Aristotelian forms or natural places that govern matter. Hobbes applies his mechanistic understanding of material nature to his understanding of human nature: individuals are by nature locked in an endless pursuit of power until death. However, from this mechanistic understanding of humanity's natural condition, Hobbes develops a social contract theory in which civil and political society is constituted from consent. Later thinkers, such as Locke and Rousseau, modify this Hobbesian premise in their pursuit of the protection of rights and a free society. Nevertheless, materialist conceptions of the cosmos have not always given rise to liberal democratic philosophies. Historicist influence on scientific inquiry in the nineteenth century is connected to Darwin's theory of evolution; Darwin reasoned that over time the process of natural selection produces ever newer and more highly adapted species. Reflecting a form of social Darwinism, Nietzsche envisions an aristocratic order that draws its inspiration from art rather than the rationalism

目次

Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Part I. Ancient Science, Natural Teleology, and the Order of Politics Chapter 3 Chapter 1. The Polis Philosophers Chapter 4 Chapter 2. The Immortality of the Soul and the Origin of the Cosmos in Plato's Phaedo Chapter 5 Chapter 3. Plato's Science of Living Well Chapter 6 Chapter 4. Understanding Aristotle's Politics through Form and Matter Part 7 Part II. Heavenly Perfection and Psychic Harmony Chapter 8 Chapter 5. Making "men see clearly": Physical Imperfection and Mathematical Order in Ptolemy's Syntaxis Chapter 9 Chapter 6. Liberalism in the Naturalistic-Psychological Roots of Averroes' Critique of Plato's Republic Part 10 Part III. Skepticism, Mechanism, and the New Politics Chapter 11 Chapter 7. Skepticism, Science, and Politics in Montaigne's Essays Chapter 12 Chapter 8. Parmenidean Intuitions in Descartes's Theory of the Heart's Motion Chapter 13 Chapter 9. Hobbes's Natural Condition and his Natural Science of the Mind in Leviathan Chapter 14 Chapter 10. Hobbes and Aristotle: Science and Politics Chapter 15 Chapter 11. From Metaphysics to Ethics and Beyond: Hobbes's Reaction to Aristotelian Essentialism Chapter 16 Chapter 12. Hobbes and Aristotle on Biology, Reason and Reproduction Part 17 Part IV. The Scientific Roots of Liberalism and Contemporary "Biopolitics" Chapter 18 Chapter 13. Locke and the Problematic Relation between Natural Science and Moral Philosophy Chapter 19 Chapter 14. Rousseau's Botanical-Political Problem: On the Nature of Nature and Political Philosophy Chapter 20 Chapter 15. Contrasting Biological and Humanistic Approaches to the Evolution of Political Morality Chapter 21 Dialogue of the Sciences and the Humanities

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