Hobbes and the Person of the State
Quentin Skinner (University of Amsterdam, Queen Mary University of London)

May 8, 2014, 4:15pm - 6:15pm
University of Amsterdam

Amsterdam
Netherlands

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Aula - Oude Lutherse kerk
Singel 411 | 1012 XM Amsterdam

All are welcome!

Prof. Quentin Skinner holds the Spinoza Chair of the Department of
Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and is Barber Beaumont Professor
of the Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London.

Abstract:
Nowadays when we speak about the state we generally use the term to refer to
an apparatus of government; in common parlance ‘state’ and ‘government’ have
become synonyms.
This lecture begins by tracing the emergence in western European political
theory of the strongly contrasting view that the state is the name of a
distinct fictional person. Thomas Hobbes is seen as the leading contributor
to this development, and the central section of the lecture analyses his
concept of the state. The lecture ends by attempting an assessment of the
idea of state personality.
Has anything of political significance been lost as a result of our
abandonment of the belief, central to early-modern political discourse, that
the state is the name of a moral person distinct from both rulers and ruled?

The second Spinoza Lecture entitled 'Hobbes and the Iconography of the
State' will take place on May 27, 8pm.

Admission is free (no reservation required).

see also:

http://www.uva.nl/en/news-events/events/events-calendar/item/spinoza-lecture
-hobbes-and-the-person-of-the-state.html


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