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Happiness in a Mechanistic Universe: Thomas Hobbes on the Nature and Attainability of Happiness

Happiness in a Mechanistic Universe: Thomas Hobbes on the Nature and Attainability of Happiness <jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The article revisits the originality of Hobbes's concept of happiness on the basis of Hobbes's two accounts found respectively in <jats:italic>Thomas White's De Mundo Examined</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Leviathan</jats:italic>. It is argued that Hobbes's claim that happiness consists in the unhindered advance from one acquired good to another ought to be understood against the background of Hobbes's theory of sensation and the imagination, on the one hand, and Hobbes's doctrine of <jats:italic>conatus</jats:italic>, on the other. It is further claimed that the account of happiness in <jats:italic>White's De Mundo</jats:italic> differs from that in <jats:italic>Leviathan</jats:italic>. In the former work, happiness is defined not as the mere progression from one good to another but as the joy/mental pleasure derived from the awareness of one's unhindered advance. The traditional claim that Hobbes is an ethical subjectivist is examined in connection with Hobbes's view of the subjectivity of happiness and the rejection of the <jats:italic>summum bonum</jats:italic>. Lastly, Hobbes's distinction between worldly and everlasting happiness is discussed.</jats:p> </jats:sec> http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Hobbes Studies Brill

Happiness in a Mechanistic Universe: Thomas Hobbes on the Nature and Attainability of Happiness

Hobbes Studies , Volume 24 (2): 117 – Jan 1, 2011

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0921-5891
eISSN
1875-0257
DOI
10.1163/187502511X597667
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The article revisits the originality of Hobbes's concept of happiness on the basis of Hobbes's two accounts found respectively in <jats:italic>Thomas White's De Mundo Examined</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Leviathan</jats:italic>. It is argued that Hobbes's claim that happiness consists in the unhindered advance from one acquired good to another ought to be understood against the background of Hobbes's theory of sensation and the imagination, on the one hand, and Hobbes's doctrine of <jats:italic>conatus</jats:italic>, on the other. It is further claimed that the account of happiness in <jats:italic>White's De Mundo</jats:italic> differs from that in <jats:italic>Leviathan</jats:italic>. In the former work, happiness is defined not as the mere progression from one good to another but as the joy/mental pleasure derived from the awareness of one's unhindered advance. The traditional claim that Hobbes is an ethical subjectivist is examined in connection with Hobbes's view of the subjectivity of happiness and the rejection of the <jats:italic>summum bonum</jats:italic>. Lastly, Hobbes's distinction between worldly and everlasting happiness is discussed.</jats:p> </jats:sec>

Journal

Hobbes StudiesBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2011

Keywords: JOY/MENTAL PLEASURE; THE SUMMUM BONUM; CONATUS; HAPPINESS (WORLDLY AND EVERLASTING)

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