Saada-Gendron, Julie:
L'analyse des passions dans la dissolution du corps politique : Spinoza e Hobbes

In: Spinoza et le corps = Astérion : Philosophie, Histoire des Idees, Pensées Politique 3 (2005), s.p.

Contains summary in: English

Literature type: Articles
Language: French
Thematic areas: Anthropology / psychology / doctrine of affections / body and mind, Philosophy of politics and law, Previous history (e.g. Descartes, Stoicism), Comparison of theories
Subject (individuals): Hobbes, Thomas

English commentary: "The contractualist theories of the Classical Age are grounded on the conception of a state of nature which becomes, because of its internal contradictions, a state of war to which the only remedy is a rational artifice :the pact. Although these contradictions arise from human passions, passions seem to be unthinkable in the strictly juridical frame of these theories, where neither the passional mechanisms of political adhesion, nor the menace of the dissolution of the State, are analysed. We will strive to compare the role that Hobbes and Spinoza attribute to passions in their respective political doctrines. Whereas Hobbes shows a constant interest in passions, but puts them to the side when it comes to thinking the construction and functioning of the political system, Spinoza allows us to distinguish between two types of passions – those which are necessarily in contradiction with the political body, and those which only occasionally obstruct it. The latter are a factor of decomposition as well as recomposition of the collective body. This approach of the problem of politics, analysing the causes of the dissolution of the political community, brings a new light on the signification of modern natural Law as it is elaborate in the works of Hobbes and Spinoza." (absract)URL: http://https://journals.openedition.org/asterion/31

Link to this page: http://spinoza.hab.de/detail.php?id=19987&LANG=EN