Spinoza's Critique of Hobbes
Law, Power, Freedom
Christian Lazzeri author Nils F Schott translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Publishing:31st Oct '26
£150.00
This title is due to be published on 31st October, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Christian Lazzeri examines the relationship between the political theory of Hobbes and that of Spinoza. Arguing against longstanding one-sided interpretations, he shows how Spinoza both took up and modified, accepted and distanced himself from Hobbes’s ideas. This also brings out problematic aspects of Hobbes’s thinking from Spinoza’s perspective. Most importantly, Lazzeri traces how Spinoza constructed a political philosophy, not on the narrow basis of an autonomous political sphere constituted by the relationships between rational legal subjects to produce indivisible sovereignty, but rather on the broad basis of the complex web of social relations and a purely institutionalist framework.
This newly translated work of Christian Lazzeri's is a masterpiece of both interpretation and political philosophical reasoning. The depth, thoroughness, and fairness of the analysis of both Hobbes and Spinoza is such that the result is more a comparison than a critique. From now on, anyone working seriously on the political philosophy of Hobbes or Spinoza, and the era in which they wrote, will need to consult Lazzeri's work. -- Douglas Den Uyl, Resident Scholar - Liberty Fund
Christian Lazzeri’s 1998 master work offers a penetrating study of Hobbes’ political theory and how Spinoza both adopted and adapted it. This first English version, fluently translated by Nils F. Scott, adds invaluable insights concerning Spinoza’s supposed shift vis-à-vis the social contract between the TTP and TP. -- Steven Barbone, San Diego State University
ISBN: 9781399525251
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
408 pages