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Single Idea 7573
[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / d. Legal positivism
]
Full Idea
Hobbes was one of the first to propose the view known as 'legal positivism' - that the criterion for deciding whether a rule is a genuine law is entirely formal or procedural
Gist of Idea
The legal positivism of Hobbes said law is just formal or procedural
Source
report of Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651]) by Nicholas Jolley - Leibniz Ch.7
Book Ref
Jolley,Nicholas: 'Leibniz' [Routledge 2005], p.195
A Reaction
This was opposed to the tradition of natural law, deriving from Aquinas. It is part of a picture of values draining out of the world as science comes to dominate. The is/ought distinction is its culmination. Power replaces virtue, and Thrasymachus wins.
The
39 ideas
from 'Leviathan'
8014
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Resolve a complex into simple elements, then reconstruct the complex by using them
[Hobbes, by MacIntyre]
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5337
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For Hobbes the Golden Rule concerns not doing things, whereas Jesus encourages active love
[Hobbes, by Flanagan]
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19764
|
Hobbes attributed to savages the passions which arise in a law-bound society
[Hobbes, by Rousseau]
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20566
|
Hobbes says the people voluntarily give up their sovereignty, in a contract with a ruler
[Hobbes, by Oksala]
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20485
|
Hobbes says people are roughly equal; Locke says there is no right to impose inequality
[Hobbes, by Wolff,J]
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20484
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We should obey the laws of nature, provided other people are also obeying them
[Hobbes, by Wolff,J]
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7573
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The legal positivism of Hobbes said law is just formal or procedural
[Hobbes, by Jolley]
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2356
|
Appearance and reality can be separated by mirrors and echoes
[Hobbes]
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2357
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Dreams must be false because they seem absurd, but dreams don't see waking as absurd
[Hobbes]
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2358
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Freedom is absence of opposition to action; the idea of 'free will' is absurd
[Hobbes]
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2363
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Reason is usually general, but deliberation is of particulars
[Hobbes]
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2362
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The will is just the last appetite before action
[Hobbes]
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2360
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'Good' is just what we desire, and 'Evil' what we hate
[Hobbes]
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2359
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Desire and love are the same, but in the desire the object is absent, and in love it is present
[Hobbes]
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2361
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If fear of unknown powers is legal it is religion, if it is illegal it is superstition
[Hobbes]
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2364
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Causation is only observation of similar events following each other, with nothing visible in between
[Hobbes]
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2365
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Religion is built on ignorance and misinterpretation of what is unknown or frightening
[Hobbes]
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2367
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In time of war the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short
[Hobbes]
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2366
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There is not enough difference between people for one to claim more benefit than another
[Hobbes]
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2368
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Men's natural desires are no sin, and neither are their actions, until law makes it so
[Hobbes]
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2371
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A contract is a mutual transfer of rights
[Hobbes]
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2372
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The person who performs first in a contract is said to 'merit' the return, and is owed it
[Hobbes]
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2375
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Suspicion will not destroy a contract, if there is a common power to enforce it
[Hobbes]
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2369
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If we seek peace and defend ourselves, we must compromise on our rights
[Hobbes]
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2370
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All voluntary acts aim at some good for the doer
[Hobbes]
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2374
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In the violent state of nature, the merest suspicion is enough to justify breaking a contract
[Hobbes]
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2373
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The first performer in a contract is handing himself over to an enemy
[Hobbes]
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2383
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Virtues are a means to peaceful, sociable and comfortable living
[Hobbes]
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2376
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Injustice is the failure to keep a contract, and justice is the constant will to give what is owed
[Hobbes]
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2378
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Belief in an afterlife is based on poorly founded gossip
[Hobbes]
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2380
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Punishment should only be for reform or deterrence
[Hobbes]
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2377
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No one who admitted to not keeping contracts could ever be accepted as a citizen
[Hobbes]
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2382
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Someone who keeps all his contracts when others are breaking them is making himself a prey to others
[Hobbes]
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2379
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If there is a good reason for breaking a contract, the same reason should have stopped the making of it
[Hobbes]
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23987
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The 'simple passions' are appetite, desire, love, aversion, hate, joy, and grief
[Hobbes, by Goldie]
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6214
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Liberty and necessity are consistent, as when water freely flows, by necessity
[Hobbes]
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7559
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Every part of the universe is body, and non-body is not part of it
[Hobbes]
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8016
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Fear of sanctions is the only motive for acceptance of authority that Hobbes can think of
[MacIntyre on Hobbes]
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8015
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Hobbes wants a contract to found morality, but shared values are needed to make a contract
[MacIntyre on Hobbes]
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