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BestsellerE-book
Author McClure, Christopher Scott.

Title Hobbes and the artifice of eternity / Christopher Scott McClure.

Publication Info. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary Thomas Hobbes argues that the fear of violent death is the most reliable passion on which to found political society. His role in shaping the contemporary view of religion and honor in the West is pivotal, yet his ideas are famously riddled with contradictions. In this breakthrough study, McClure finds evidence that Hobbes' apparent inconsistencies are intentional, part of a sophisticated rhetorical strategy meant to make man more afraid of death than he naturally is. Hobbes subtly undermined two of the most powerful manifestations of man's desire for immortality: the religious belief in an afterlife and the secular desire for eternal fame through honor. McClure argues that Hobbes purposefully stirred up controversy, provoking his adversaries into attacking him and unwittingly spreading his message. This study will appeal to scholars of Hobbes, political theorists, historians of early modern political thought and anyone interested in the genesis of modern Western attitudes toward mortality.
Contents The desire for immortality as a political problem -- The effectual truth of Hobbes's rhetoric -- Leviathan as a scientific work of art -- The hollow religion of Leviathan -- Hell and anxiety in Hobbes's Leviathan -- War, madness and death: the paradox of honor in Hobbes's Leviathan -- Self-interest rightly understood in Behemoth: the case of General Monck -- The afterlife and immortality.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Immortality (Philosophy)
Immortality (Philosophy)
PHILOSOPHY -- History & Surveys -- Modern.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: McClure, Christopher Scott. Hobbes and the artifice of eternity. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2016 9781107153790 1107153794 (DLC) 2016028992
ISBN 9781316946107 (electronic book)
131694610X (electronic book)
1316945782 (electronic book)
9781316945780 (electronic book)
9781316945148
1316945146
9781316650035
1316650030
9781316945780
9781107153790
1107153794 (hardback)
9781316607800 (paperback)