Hobbes on the Passions and Powerlesness

Timo Airaksinen ()
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Timo Airaksinen: Department of Philosophy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Homo Oeconomicus, 2003, vol. 19, 543-567

Abstract: Any person is vulnerable to death and must suffer from the fear of sudden death. Thomas Hobbes builds on these premises in all of his work until in Leviathan he offers his final, comprehensive, and rhetorical account of them. Because of such fears, human beings are powerless in the sense that they cannot defend themselves in the condition of nature. Instead they can be supposed to make a covenant with a sovereign power. This paper analyzes HobbesÆs notion of emotions and compares it with Descartes. Special attention is paid to the naturalistic or physiological explanation of emotions, especially to the case of aversive motivations. According to Hobbes, aversions motivate people to act, but it can also be shown that according to his own principles aversive motivation cannot motivate but makes the person passive. HobbesÆs notions of rhetoric and scientific reasoning are also taken into account.

Date: 2003
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