[DOWNLOAD] "Hobbes and America" by Frank M. Coleman ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Hobbes and America
- Author : Frank M. Coleman
- Release Date : January 15, 1977
- Genre: Philosophy,Books,Nonfiction,History,Politics & Current Events,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 750 KB
Description
This path-breaking study seriously shakes the credibility of the
prevalent interpretations of American government and politics. It exposes the real
American constitutional morality, one embodied in a code adhered to by those in
political life.
Frank Coleman makes a persuasive case that the real roots of
the American political system are in Hobbes, and not, as is usually thought, in
Locke. He shows that a Hobbesian interpretation fits the transactional, bargaining,
or conflict-management nature of American politics pointed out by all the empirical
political scientists, although this viewpoint is incompatible with the leading
philosophical interpretations of American constitutionalism.
In so far as the
American system and its rationale are Hobbesian, they are thereby incapable of
resolving social conflicts and of pursuing any common good. The leading theories,
particularly the reformist theories, are unable to absorb the teachings of empirical
political science – and to such an extent that one can speak of a pattern of
political schizophrenia prevailing in the political science
profession.
Coleman is no naive iconoclast: he has a thorough grasp and
appreciation of the traditions of political theory from Aristotle to Oakeshott: he
dissects his material meticulously, with coherence and integrity. His synthesis of
empirical and philosophical studies of political life sharpens our perceptions and
forces a re-evaluation of certain ideas and well-entrenched notions. Hobbes and
America has serious implications for understanding both American politics and, more
generally, western political experience and thought.