Hobbes’s Critique of Religion and Related Writings
Hobbes’s Critique of Religion and Related Writings
Leo Strauss’s The Political Philosophy of Hobbes deservedly ranks among his most widely acclaimed works. In it Strauss argues that the basis for Hobbes’s natural and political science is his interest in “self-knowledge of man as he really is.” The writings collected in this book, each written prior to that classic volume, complement that account. Thus at long last, this book allows us to have a complete picture of Strauss’s interpretation of Hobbes, the thinker pivotal to the fundamental theme of his life’s work: the conflicting demands of philosophy and revelation, or as he termed it, “the theologico-political problem.”
It is no exaggeration to say that Strauss’s work on Hobbes’s critique of religion is essential to his analysis of Hobbes’s political philosophy, and vice versa. This volume will spark new interest in Hobbes’s explication of the Bible and in his understanding of religion by revealing previously neglected dimensions and motives of Hobbes’s “theology.” At the same time, scholars interested in the intellectual development of Leo Strauss will find in these writings the missing link, as it were, between his two early books,Spinoza’s Critique of Religion and The Political Philosophy of Hobbes.
In addition, this volume makes available for the first time in English a letter, a book outline, an extended review, an engagement with legal positivism, and an account of Strauss’s work on Hobbes by Heinrich Meier, all of which shed light on Strauss’s concerns and his approach to Hobbes in particular, as well as to modern political thought and life.
184 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2011
Philosophy: History and Classic Works
Political Science: Classic Political Thought
Reviews
Table of Contents
Introduction: The History of Strauss’s Hobbes Studies in the 1930s—Heinrich Meier
Hobbes’s Critique of Religion: A Contribution to Understanding the Enlightenment (1933–34)
Introduction
§2. Hobbes’s Politics and the Critique of Revelation
§3. The Different Versions of Hobbes’s Critique of Religion
A. The Critique of the Tradition
a. The Principle of Scripture
b. Spirits and Angels
c. The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life
d. Temporal and Spiritual Power
e. The Kingdom of Darkness
f. Characteristics of the Critique of the Tradition
B. The Critique of Scripture
a. The Knowability and the Believability of Revelation
b. The Knowability and the Possibility of Revelation
c. The Knowability and the Possibility of Miracles
d. Hobbes and Descartes
e. The Basis of Hobbes’s Critique of Religion
Addenda: Two Passages Deleted from the Manuscript
Shorter Writings by Strauss on Hobbes
Some Notes on the Political Science of Hobbes (1932)
Foreword to a Planned Book on Hobbes (1931)
Outline: The Political Science of Hobbes;
An Introduction to Natural Right (1931)
Letter from Strauss to Hans-Georg Gadamer and Gerhard Krüger (1935)
Index
Be the first to know
Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!