Hobbesian Applied Ethics and Public Policy

304 Pages·2017·1.649 MB·English

by  Shane D. Courtland (Editor)

Hobbesian Applied Ethics
and Public Policy
Courtland has drawn together leading Hobbes scholars whose original essays
address seminal topics in normative and applied ethics. The collection will
be a vital resource for scholars and students, and it demonstrates the endur-
ing value of Hobbes scholarship to contemporary controversies.
—Andrew I. Cohen, Georgia State University, USA
Most philosophers and political scientists readily admit that Thomas Hobbes
is a significant figure in the history of political thought. His theory was, argu-
ably, one of the first to provide a justification for political legitimacy from
the perspective of each individual subject. Many excellent books and articles
have examined the justification and structure of Hobbes’s commonwealth,
ethical system, and interpretation of Christianity. What is troubling is that
the Hobbesian project has been largely missing in the applied ethics and
public policy literature. We often find applications of Kantian deontology,
Bentham’s or Mill’s utilitarianism, Rawls’s contractualism, the ethics of care,
and various iterations of virtue ethics. Hobbesian accounts are routinely
ignored and often derided. This is unfortunate because Hobbes’s project
offers a unique perspective. To ignore it, when such a perspective would be
fruitful to apply to another set of theoretical questions, is a problem in need
of a remedy. This volume seeks to eliminate (or, at the very least, p artially
fill ) this gap in the literature.
Not only will this volume appeal to those who are generally familiar with
Hobbesian scholarship, it will also appeal to a variety of readers that are
largely unfamiliar with Hobbes.
Shane D. Courtland currently works at West Virginia University. His publi-
cations have appeared in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Envi-
ronmental Philosophy, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Journal of Mind and
Behavior, Southwest Philosophy Review, Hobbes Studies, Reason Papers,
Utilitas, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Routledge’s Ethics in
Politics.
Routledge Research in Applied Ethics
1 Vulnerability, Autonomy and Applied Ethics
Edited by Christine Straehle
2 Refugees and the Ethics of Forced Displacement
Serena Parekh
3 Procreation, Parenthood, and Education Rights
Ethical and Philosophical Issues
Edited by Jaime Ahlberg and Michael Chobli
4 The Ethics of Climate Engineering
Solar Radiation Management and Non-Ideal Justice
Toby Svoboda
5 Corporal Punishment
A Philosophical Assessment
Patrick Lenta
6 Hobbesian Applied Ethics and Public Policy
Edited by Shane D. Courtland
Hobbesian Applied Ethics
and Public Policy
Edited by Shane D. Courtland
First published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Courtland, Shane D., editor.
Title: Hobbesian applied ethics and public policy / edited by Shane D.
Courtland.
Description: 1 [edition]. | New York : Routledge, 2017. | Series:
Routledge research in applied ethics ; 6 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017017118 | ISBN 9781138691636 (hardback :
alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Hobbes, Thomas, 1588–1679. | Applied ethics. |
Public policy.
Classification: LCC B1248.E7 H63 2017 | DDC 170—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017017118
ISBN: 978-1-138-69163-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-53441-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Permissions ix
Editor’s Introduction 1
SHANE D. COURTLAND
SECTION I
Core Issues in Application 9
1 A Hobbesian Approach to Public Policy 11
SUSANNE SREEDHAR
2 Applied Ethics: A Challenge to Contractarianism? 28
DANIEL EGGERS
3 Legislating Death: A Problem in Thomas Hobbes’s Argument
and Its Relevance for Contemporary Democracies 48
EVA ODZUCK
SECTION II
Medical Ethics 67
4 Hobbesian Medical Ethics 69
ROSAMOND RHODES
5 Hobbes and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Between the Pains
of Life and Death 91
JOANNE BOUCHER
6 Hobbes and Informed Consent in Medicine 106
MARCUS P. ADAMS
vi Contents
SECTION III
Local Issues in Applied Ethics and Public Policy 123
7 Hobbes on the Ethic and Jurisprudence of Life 125
KODY W. COOPER
8 Cheers by Command of the Sovereign: A Hobbesian
Approach to Alcohol 144
MICHAEL KROM
9 Hobbes Comes Out for Equal Marriage 161
ELEANOR CURRAN
SECTION IV
Political Issues in Public Policy 179
10 Hobbes and Free Speech 181
DAVID VAN MILL
11 Hobbes and the Welfare State 198
JAN NARVESON
12 Hobbes on Serious Crime 214
TOM SORELL
SECTION V
Group Pluralism and Public Policy 229
13 A Hobbesian Response to Terrorism 231
JEREMY ANDERSON
14 Hobbesian Holdouts 247
PETER VANDERSCHRAAF
15 Between Two Masters: Hobbes’s Views on International
Relations 264
GABRIELLE STANTON
List of Contributors 285
Index 289
Acknowledgments
This volume would not exist had it not been for the help of many people. I
offer my thanks to the contributors of this volume. It has been an honor to
work with such talented scholars and dedicated professionals. Their engage-
ment with Hobbes has been as inspiring as it has been thorough. I would
also like to thank the editors at Routledge for their advice at various stages
of the editorial process. This volume was completed, in part, with funding
from West Virginia University’s Center for Free Enterprise and the University
of Minnesota, Duluth (via the EVCAA Research and Scholarship Grant). On
a personal note, this work, as with all of my work, could not have come
about without the continued support and presence of my family. To my wife
(Kim), my children (McKenna, Logan, and Alix), my late father (not a day
goes by . . .) and my mother (one of the strongest people I know), you are
the reason my life has value.

Permissions
1. Hobbes, Thomas. The Correspondence of Thomas Hobbes, Volume II:
1660–1679 , ed. by Noel Malcolm. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1994. (529 words). By permission of Oxford University Press.
2. Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan , ed. by Noel Malcolm. 3 Vols. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2012. (1,058 words). By permission of Oxford
University Press.
3. Hobbes, Thomas. T he Elements of Law: Human Nature and De Corpore
Politico, ed. by John C.A. Gaskin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
(758 words). By permission of Oxford University Press.
4. Hobbes, Thomas. L eviathan, ed. by Richard Tuck. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, (1651) 1991. (946 words). Reprinted with the permis-
sion of Cambridge University Press.
5. Hobbes, Thomas. Hobbes’s Leviathan: Reprinted From the Edition of
1651 with an Essay by the Late W.G. Pogson Smith. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1909. (535 words). By permission of Oxford University Press.
6. Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan , ed. by Edwin Curley. Indianapolis: Hackett
Publishing Company, 1994. (5,000 words). Reprinted with Permission
from Hackett Publishing Company.
7. Hobbes, Thomas. Man and Citizen , ed. by Bernard Gert. New York:
Anchor Books, 1972. (800 words). Reprinted with Permission from
Hackett Publishing Company.
8. Kody W. Cooper, “The Prolife Leviathan: The Hobbesian Case Against
Abortion,” A merican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly Volume 86,
Issue 4, Fall 2012, pp. 557–581. By permission of the Philosophy
Documentation Center.