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Monday 11 September 2017

Would Thomas Hobbes have approved of a Caliphate?








What is the most interesting thing about Hobbes?

It could be argued that Hobbes supported a Caliphate.



Hobbes was not Muslim, was he?

No, but a Caliphate would be in harmony with the conditions he says are necessary for an absolute monarch."The institution of Churches, popes, priests, pastors, and theologians--who possess power and knowledge that is supposedly founded upon authority outside of the sovereign's domain (i.e. the authority of God and revealed religion)--creates a chasm in the power structure of the Leviathan. A subject's knowledge and obedience is split between two heads of the commonwealth, and this will lead, as Hobbes has repeatedly argued, to civil war. [He was of course thinking of the English Civil War.] As such a situation is against the laws of nature--in that it puts safety in danger--it is against the word of God for religious authority and civil authority to be split into two bodies. Thus the sovereign must also be the head of all religion.""the term caliph came into use as a title of the civil and religious head of the Muslim state."


How do you know Hobbes would not have supported British values?

According to Ofsted, 'fundamental British values' are democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith, which contradicts the absolute monarchy Hobbes advocated.

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/hobbes/themes.htmlAbsolute

Monarchy as the Best Form of Government [I think he means dictatorship]
Hobbes promoted that monarchy is the best form of government and the only one that can guarantee peace. In some of his early works, he only says that there must be a supreme sovereign power of some kind in society, without stating definitively which sort of sovereign power is best. In Leviathan, however, Hobbes unequivocally argues that absolutist monarchy is the only right form of government. In general, Hobbes seeks to define the rational bases upon which a civil society could be constructed that would not be subject to destruction from within. Accordingly, he delineates how best to minimize discord, disagreement, and factionalism within society—whether between state and church, between rival governments, or between different contending philosophies. Hobbes believes that any such conflict leads to civil war. He holds that any form of ordered government is preferable to civil war. Thus he advocates that all members of society submit to one absolute, central authority for the sake of maintaining the common peace. In Hobbes’s system, obedience to the sovereign is directly tied to peace in all realms. The sovereign is empowered to run the government, to determine all laws, to be in charge of the church, to determine first principles, and to adjudicate in philosophical disputes. For Hobbes, this is the only sure means of maintaining a civil, peaceful polity and preventing the dissolution of society into civil war.

 Are you saying Hobbes would have supported a theocracy?

When accused of atheism, Hobbes denied it. On his deathbed he said he "liked the religion of the Church of England best of all other."

23rd minute at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018csyq  He also says the sovereign should have the last word on religious matters and be head of of all religion.

"We are to consider now what office in the Church those persons have who, being civil sovereigns, have embraced also the Christian faith?" to which the answer is: "Christian kings are still the supreme pastors of their people, and have power to ordain what pastors they please, to teach the Church, that is, to teach the people committed to their charge."

Such is a Caliph.


Hobbes was a Christian. Why would he support a Muslim theocracy rather than a Christian theocracy, as you claim?

It does not appear that Hobbes was aware of Islam at all. Obviously, he had never heard of a Caliphate. A Caliph is a title of the civil and religious head of the Muslim state, which would have suited him down to the ground. You must understand that he thought the clergy had too much influence. Islam has no clergy at all and relies on the Koran to maintain morality. The closest Islam has to a clergy is the judiciary.

https://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/367/367-091.htm

"Hobbes believed that endless trouble and civil strife was caused by clerical pretensions - whether those of puritan fundamentalists, papal supremacists or divine right episcopalians. Hobbes wanted the clergy deprived of all independent power and kept on a short leash, strictly subordinate to the state."

Now, are you finally persuaded that Hobbes would have taken to Islam like a duck to water?

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