Thomas Hobbes

This is the first volume of the Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers . Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers provides comprehensive accounts of the works of seminal conservative thinkers from a variety of periods, disciplines and traditions - the first series of its kind. Even the selection of thinkers adds another aspect to conservative thinking, including not only theorists but also thinkers in literary forms and those who are also practitioners.

The series comprises twenty volumes, each including an intellectual biography, historical context, critical exposition of the thinker's work, reception and influence, contemporary relevance, bibliography including references to electronic resources and an index. Review: As the inaugural volume in a new series from John Meadowcraft, Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers, Bunce's Thomas Hobbes sets a high standard for future volumes.

Bunce (Univ. of Cambridge) has provided a text useful for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty alike. The book includes a brief yet informative biographical sketch, an account of the development of Hobbes's civil philosophy, and a particularly valuable discussion of how Hobbes's thought was received in his own day, as well as the various avenues of interpretation subsequently developed.

The discussion of Hobbes's reception and interpretation is particularly useful to students as it addresses the critiques of Hobbes made by Pufendorf, Locke, and Rousseau. The account of contemporary views of Hobbes discusses his place in the thought of important recent theorists such as Michael Oakeshott, Leo Strauss, and Francis Fukuyama as well as his continued relevance to contemporary political subjects.

Bunce's volume has the particular virtue of paying due attention to Hobbes's physics as well as his politics, clarifying the frequently neglected link between his physics and his moral and political teachings. Summing Up: Recommended. All undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. -- M. Harding, University of Dallas-CHOICE, Editor's Pick