Love and the Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes's Critique of Platonic Eros

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Author(s)
Patapan, Haig
Sikkenga, Jeffrey
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2008
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Show full item recordAbstract
Hobbes' understanding of love, and its significance for his political thought, has received insufficient attention. This article contends that Hobbes has a consistent and comprehensive teaching on love that directly repudiates what he regards as the Platonic teaching on eros. In attacking the Platonic idea of eros, Hobbes undermines a pillar of classical political philosophy and articulates a significant aspect of his new understanding of the passions in terms of power, which is itself a critical part of his new political science most famously presented in Leviathan.Hobbes' understanding of love, and its significance for his political thought, has received insufficient attention. This article contends that Hobbes has a consistent and comprehensive teaching on love that directly repudiates what he regards as the Platonic teaching on eros. In attacking the Platonic idea of eros, Hobbes undermines a pillar of classical political philosophy and articulates a significant aspect of his new understanding of the passions in terms of power, which is itself a critical part of his new political science most famously presented in Leviathan.
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Journal Title
Political Theory
Volume
36
Issue
6
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© 2008 SAGE Publications. This is the author-manuscript version of the paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Political science
Philosophy