Selma Singer wrote:[snip]
I guess my question has to do with Hobbes's basic sense of human nature. If,
as I understand him, he believes that our nature is to act only in our
self-interest, and if that self interest has to do only with our physical
and material preservation, why would he care to inform us ... about what is in our best interests. That seems to me
to be an act that goes beyond self-interest to an interest in general human
welfare, or an act that comes from some creative need (?) in Hobbes.
... people who engage in creative work, like
writing, are doing something that goes beyond their own self-interest. And I
believe strongly that creative work ...
defines us much more
accurately than does our need to preserve our lives or even our comfort.
Hobbes is so interesting to me because he so clearly sets
forth right at the beginning all the wonderful and
problematic features of our "modern age" as they continue to
effect our lives today, some 350 years later.
Hobbes is basically asking: What if Galileo is right? How
shall we live? What is the human condition? ... if Galileo
is right.
"if Galileo is right" about *what*? I must have missed the original introduction of this theme in this thread.
My impression of Hobbes is that he manages to take away with the left hand what he seemed to give with the right: If he argued that society is a human artfact, he went on to argue that we could only succeed in this creative prodcess if we alienated the creative process to an all-powerful ruler, who would leave us only with the freedom to engage in economic exchange relations (and anything else that would have no political effects, like "free speech", and "freedom of religion" entirely disconneced from having any impact on the all powerful ruler).
-----------------------------------------------------------
Well, the U.S. forces in Iraq finally caught Moby Dick. George W Bush's life is now fulfilled and he can, like Odysseus, look forward to dying in peace in ripe old age having received his Father's blessing.
But dictators are easier to capture than prophets. WHere is Osama?
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------------------- Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
