RISULTATI RICERCA

Yves Charles Zarka seeks to show that Hobbes conceives of causes as events and that the progressive constitution of his theory of causality, from the Short Tract up to De corpore, introduces all elements required of a theory of event. Such a theory raises special problems as to the nature of rationality, theological foundations of a system of events and the status of politics in a physical universe governed by necessity. Some of those special problems include the well-known objections raised by Cudworth, Bramhall and Leibniz. Zarka stresses in particular the importance of the debate between Hobbes and Bramhall on liberty, necessity and chance in the formulation of those problems. One thesis of this paper is that such a theory of event can explain why Hobbes’s materialism can be changed, in his political thought, into its opposite.

John Rogers explores the concepts of recognition, command and authority and tests their validity in several cases presented by Hobbes, ranging from parental authority to the omnipotence of God. The general thesis he defends is that, for Hobbes, autonomy always goes hand in hand with the possession of power. Even for the individuals in a civil society, there is no autonomy but in a condition of empowerment. But, at the same time, the strength of the laws of nature rests in their rationality, and there can be no doubt that their compelling force comes from their being rational. The comparison with mathematical theorems furnishes an important element of understanding, since the laws of nature are conclusions concerning that which conduces to the conservation of oneself. Although there is an empirical element in the deduction of those practical theorems, this is no objection to the analogy being drawn, since this empirical element belongs to the learning process and not to the rationality of the law itself. In the light of this conception of natural law, Hobbes thus appears as a rationalist in morals and politics.

A. P. Martinich aims at explaining Hobbes’s criticism of Republicanism. Trying to adopt a middle position between subjection and liberty, Hobbes develops a theory of natural liberty which is compatible with both fear and necessity and civil liberty. He thus defines civil liberty as the extent to which a subject is free from laws and obligations, the degree of freedom not being determined by the kind of government a citizen is obliged to. As far as the liberty of states is concerned, Hobbes establishes that there is no more liberty in the one than in the other. Martinich’s demonstration draws very much on §§ 14 and 15 of chapter 21 of Leviathan, that is, on Hobbes’s theory of political obligation, because in those paragraphs Hobbes answers the objections made by republicans to the theory of alienation which he expounded in his Elements of Law and De cive. In Leviathan, Hobbes has abandoned this former theory in seeking to generate obligation out of authorization.

Karlfriedrich Herb shows that the new theory of representation in Leviathan implies a rejection of direct democracy, which was still referred to, and active as a political model, in The Elements of Law and De cive. Since the social contract gives full authority to the sovereign, there is no longer any reason to consider democracy as the original form of all governments. Democracy thus plays no part in the definition of the citizen’s liberty, and consequently the liberty of the subject is not at all a matter of participation in political life. To the contrary, this civil liberty is directly proportional to the independence left to the citizen by the legislator. The famous maxim defining liberty as the silence of the law is therefore to be considered anew in the perspective of the theory of representative sovereignty. The authority of the sovereign has nothing to do, in Hobbes’s thought, with the authoritas of the ancient Romans, since actual peace is its only source of legitimacy. It is not possible, therefore, to include Leviathan in a history of Republicanism.

The Normative and the Explanatory in Hobbes's Political Philosophy (by Tom Sorell) - ABSTRACT: Tom Sorell modifies an interpretation he presented in his Hobbes (1986). He continues to maintain that Hobbesian natural philosophy and Hobbesian civil philosophy are methodologically quite distinct, as well as distinct in subject-matter. But it is misleading to put this by saying that civil philosophy is normative and natural philosophy is explanatory, as if civil philosophy itself weren’t supposed to be explanatory. Civil philosophy can be explanatory in the sense of specifying normative precepts for achieving a certain goal precepts that correspondingly explain the achievement of that goal. Explanatory civil science is still quite distinct from explanatory natural science, however, contrary to what is claimed by Sorell’s critics.

Authority and Theodicy in Hobbes's Leviathan (by George Wright) - ABSTRACT: George Wright traces a conceptual link between Hobbes’s teaching on authority, both human and divine, and on theodicy, the justification of the wayes of God to men, as Milton had it. The key distinction between human and divine authority is captured in the differing positions of the slave and the hired man, as these were known in antiquity. The author then links authority to theodicy by way of the distinction that Hobbes consistently drew between God as cause and God as person.

The affinity which the English Leviathan evinces for Independency is the focus of Johann Sommerville's article. Among the links the author traces is a concern to stress that clergymen have no independent jurisdiction over the laity, in contrast to positions shared by Catholics, Presbyterians and Anglicans. But, Hobbes has no doubt that the Independents themselves were fanatics, prescribing religious duties that might conflict with those of the lawful sovereign. Independents also taught resistance to the sovereign, while it is a key aspect of Hobbes's political theory to teach submission to political authority. To summarize, while Leviathan agrees with the Independents in rejecting divine right theories of church government, it cannot be read as a defense of Independent thinking in general.

Disarming the Prophets (by Kinch Hoekstra) - ABSTRACT: Kinch Hoekstra takes up another question related to supposed revelatory experience, namely, the claim to prophesy, and, more particularly, why Hobbes’s concern with it grows during the decade after 1640, what varieties of it preoccupy him and what his responses are to them. Of central importance for Hobbes was his contemporaries’ concern with biblical prophecy, both radical and royalist. Trying to pluck its political sting, Hobbes argues that apocalyptic prophecy is a form of madness but more broadly seeks to place the interpretation of scripture solidly within the purview of the sovereign. By blunting the belief in prophecy, Hobbes disarms the prophet.

Cees Leijenhorst’s essay is largely a response to two articles. The first is by Edwin Curley, I Durst not Write so Boldly or How to Read Hobbes’ Theological-Political Treatise, Scienza e Politica ed. by P. Bostreghi (Naples, Italy: Bibliopolis, 1992), 497-593. Leijenhorst goes through several of Curley’s arguments to show that the supposed atheism which is the logical outcome of Hobbes’s remarks, as read by Curley, in fact do not lead to that conclusion. The second article is Agostino Lupoli’s ‘Fluidismo’ e Corporeal Deity nella Filosofia Naturale di Thomas Hobbes: A Proposito dell’hobbesiano ‘Dio delle Cause’, Rivista di Storia della Filosofia 54 n. s. (1999): 573-610.) In broad agreement with Lupoli, Leijenhorst refines and somewhat revises the latter’s arguments to show greater consistency and continuity of thought in Hobbes. He concludes, There does not appear to exist any reason for doubting Hobbes’s sincerity with respect to his outspoken endorsement of the orthodox Christian creatio ex nihilo.

The striking similarity between the position of Hobbes’s political sovereign on earth now and the position of Christ following His return after the Last Judgment is the final insight of many contained in Franck Lessay’s trenchant essay. Pursuing several lines of analysis into Hobbes’s ecclesiology, Lessay seeks to show its singularity and radicalism vis-à-vis any other contemporary position. The constant attempt to undercut any pretended independence of the church from the civil government is characteristic of Hobbes’s approach, and in this he is far more Erastian certainly than Laud or also Hooker. An extended focus upon Hobbes’s doctrine of the Trinity yields several important insights regarding the central role of the Christ, as Hobbes understood it, as well as the merely commemorative meaning of the sacraments established by Him. As in other articles in this section, Lessay shows important links between Hobbes’s theology and his politics.

Beyond the Air-pump: Hobbes, Boyle and the Omnipotence of God (by Luc Foisneau) - ABSTRACT: In a response that is both appreciative and critical, Luc Foisneau addresses several questions raised by the well-known work of Steven Shapin and Simon Shaeffer, Hobbes and the Air-Pump (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985). Foisneau shows that the dispute between Hobbes and Robert Boyle stemmed not only from social or epistemological matters but also from divergent interpretations of the status of religion and theology. Insisting on the importance of Hobbes’s theory of natural religion, the author links the concept of omnipotence, as Hobbes develops it, to the natural obligation to obey the laws of nature. Nonetheless, the figure of the almighty God who rules over humanity through fear of death is only indirectly rooted in the science of nature, and it is here that Foisneau marks a key difference between Hobbes and Boyle, for whom experimental science could provide a naturalistic re-founding of Christian theology. Reverting to Cartesian arguments regarding the immortality of the soul and divine providence, Boyle believed that experiments obliged the mind of the researcher to witness to God’s transcendence and government of the world. Thus disposed by the new science, the scientist naturally becomes Christian.

Phantasms and Idols: True Philosophy and Wrong Religion in Hobbes (by Karl Schuhmann) - ABSTRACT: Karl Schuhmann’s essay focuses on a central problem which Hobbes set out to remedy, namely, the politically disruptive potential of those making claims of immediate supernatural experience, based, for example, on dreams, the embassies of angels and visions. Confident of victory despite his variance not only with common but also learned opinion, Hobbes offers his natural philosophy as the way both to lay the ghosts of superstition and to prevent political aggrandizement through popular credulity. Tracing the philosopher’s use of the Greek concept of phantasia, as first employed by Aristotle and then in scholastic terminology, Schuhmann uncovers the political point contained in Hobbes’s insistence on motion and matter in his natural science.

Questo lavoro esamina gli studi sul rapporto tra memoria, domande suggestive e creazione di falsi ricordi. Vengono riportati i due principali filoni di studio che hanno rispettivamente indagato a) il rapporto tra domande suggestive e meccanismi della memoria e b) la relazione tra memoria, suggestionabilità e impianto di falsi ricordi. L’analisi delle ricerche evidenzia l’opportunità sia di distinguere tra meccanismi e processi psicologici tipici dei contesti in cui vengono poste domande suggestive (misinformazione) da quelli di falso ricordo autobiografico, sia gli effetti non sovrapponibili o intercambiabili che ne derivano. Le conclusioni evidenziano che le domande suggestive possono determinare errori nella memoria dei dettagli periferici degli eventi riferiti. Per quanto riguarda la costruzione di falsi ricordi essi possono essere generati solo se riguardano eventi plausibili. Non esistono, invece, evidenze empiriche che dimostrino la possibilità di impiantare falsi ricordi concernenti esperienze emozionali altamente stressanti, traumatiche o croniche.

Oggetto principale del presente contributo è quello della prostituzione e in particolare delle caratteristiche che dal punto di vista psicologico, sociologico e culturale tale fenomeno assume quando le donne coinvolte sono straniere vittime di sfruttamento e tratta. In particolare, vengono presentati due studi di tipo qualitativo condotti all’interno del progetto di protezione sociale attivato dall’Ufficio Stranieri del Comune di Milano. Attraverso tali studi si è voluto approfondire sia la conoscenza delle donne attraverso l’analisi delle loro storie di vita sia la loro rappresentazione del percorso di reinserimento sociale in cui sono state coinvolte. Dalle interessanti analisi emerge un quadro di queste donne complesso e articolato che richiede interventi attenti alle molteplici dimensioni (culturali, sociali, psicologiche) che questa utenza porta con sé.

L’articolo affronta la tematica della violenza alle donne con un’attenzione particolare al maltrattamento intrafamiliare e al ruolo dei servizi del territorio. L’obiettivo è quello di approfondire tale fenomeno, di conoscerne l’entità e di indagarne gli interventi attuati dai servizi locali. La prima parte dell’articolo si concentra sulla descrizione dell’attuale situazione internazionale e italiana con un approfondimento dei profili della vittima e dell’aggressore, per concludersi con un accenno alle modalità di interruzione della spirale di violenza. La seconda parte dell’articolo presenta, invece, i risultati più significativi di una ricerca sulle donne maltrattate. I risultati mettono in luce da un lato la necessità di un lavoro di rete fra diversi servizi e dall’altro l’importanza di diffondere una conoscenza e una cultura specifica su tale problematica.

La ricerca prende in esame quanto i programmi contro la violenza domestica e la violenza sessuale coinvolgano i servizi rivolti alle donne multiproblematiche (cioè con patologie da abuso di sostanza, problemi di salute mentale o disabilità nell’apprendimento, carcerazione e prostituzione) e i problemi specifici che queste donne incontrano quando accedono ai servizi. Le autrici hanno intervistato il personale di 20 programmi che focalizzano i loro sforzi di assistenza sulle donne multiproblematiche. I problemi incontrati da queste donne comprendono la mancanza di servizi che si occupano dei casi multiproblematici, operatori dei servizi inadeguati e violenti che sfruttano le problematiche delle donne per dominarle o vittimizzarle ancora. Questo articolo descrive le strategie che i programmi utilizzano per venire incontro ai bisogni specifici di queste donne.