Diverse Aspects of Hobbes's Moral Theory

Abstract

We begin our pursuit of Hobbes's moral theory by considering whether he had a moral theory or not. For so many people have insisted that Hobbes did not have a moral theory, resting on the claim that he was a moral relativist or that he reduced morality to prudence. Then we examine influential modern interpretations, which have portrayed Hobbes's moral theory as either rule-egoism, moral contract theory, divine-command theory (or deontology), or virtue ethics, in order to throw diverse aspects of his moral theory into stark relief and to make clear what it really is. We conclude that his grotesque picture of modern state, ‘Leviathan’, which supports his moral theory, is an expression of his resignation to the impossibility of realizing of moral ideals.