Can I read Hobbes’s Argument for the Practical Necessity of Colonization on EtoBox?

Hobbes’s Argument for the Practical Necessity of Colonization by David James is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Hobbes’s Argument for the Practical Necessity of Colonization about?

Hobbes attempts to show that practical necessity and human nature are related in such a way that colonization is unavoidable by virtue of its naturalness. Colonization is practically and historically necessary because unavoidable constraints generated by human nature combine with material and social factors to produce certain inevitable outcomes. Hobbes’s account of colonization can also be understood in terms of his negative idea of freedom. Hobbes fails, however, to provide a sufficient explanation of one aspect of modern colonialism, namely, the existence of national liberation movements, while the role of the sovereign implies a different idea of freedom to Hobbes’s purely negative one. This makes colonization appear less natural and necessary than he suggests. Finally, I explore the implications of Hobbes’s account of the causes of colonization in connection with the possibility of a ‘science’ of history and the idea of historical necessity.

Author

David James

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published

2021

Language

EN