Metaphysical Problems, Political Solutions by Sokolowski Asaf Z.;

Author:Sokolowski, Asaf Z.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books

The resolution of our disputes demands that they be taken out of our hands, placing ourselves in a state of alienation. Any resolution in which we are actively involved is bound to regress into a problematic original promise-making scenario.

While Gauthier casts Hobbes as a liberal rational-choice contract theorist, with essentially no role for the forceful ruler, Hampton wishes to resurrect Hobbes’s insistence on the need for the creation of a powerful Leviathan. The sheer extent of the power of the Leviathan is her solution to our natural mistrust (prisoner’s dilemma). Where she thinks Hobbes went wrong is in his explanation of the creation of the Leviathan. On her account, the Leviathan cannot rely on promises, and in this it makes no difference if the looked for ground is a grand-promise (the third law of nature) or an aggregation of minor promise situations (reiterated prisoner’s dilemma). The Leviathan, the first form of cooperation, can be preceded by coordination alone.[37]

Gauthier returns matters to our own hands. He empowers individuals by enhancing the original Hobbesean, future-oriented, rational outlook. Individuals are no longer weaklings, susceptible to an inherently “foolish” human frailty of the mind. Society is no longer an arena of measured civilized competition, but rather a platform for the exercise of rationality-enhancing cooperative interaction. Both God and the coercive sovereign that emulates Him are rendered obsolete. Or, as Hampton puts it:

Gauthier is, I believe, trying to make the following point. If people have decided to enter into a world in which their interactions are cooperative rather than coercive, then coercive power and the goods that this power has amassed no longer define the parties’ bargaining positions.[38]

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.