Title: "Thomas Hobbes and Methodological Shift in Social Philosophy"

P. K. Pokker

Abstract:

Philosophy always attempts to trace the roots of the problematic. Thomas Hobbes tried to do such philosophizing in socio-political field at the verge of modernity.  He was the first to trace the scientific feature of society getting turned into political entity. Civil philosophy as called by Hobbes is currently most discussed topic in culture studies. The way Hobbes developed social thought is unique since it differs from traditional philosophical approaches especially the Greek. His approach to causal relation, body and accident, identity and difference is the result of certain epistemological shift that he had undertaken. His contribution in political philosophy was the result of the epistemological shift that he could introduce in philosophy. Compared to many other thinkers including much celebrated thinker Descartes, the philosophical perspective put forth by Hobbes was radical and path breaking since it is based on principles of human behaviour and the consequences in social body. Most of the critical evaluations of Hobbes are based on political consequences of Absolutism rather than specificity of the philosophical break that he had introduced.   For Hobbes the profession of philosophy is to search out the properties of bodies from their generation, or their generation from their properties. He thereby determines the role of philosophy and simultaneously deviates from the tradition of mere guess work in formulating philosophical hypotheses. It was the shift from mere descriptive to analytic way in philosophy. Consequently there arise the question of the nature of bodies, properties and accidents. Besides the nature of naming, proposition, necessity and contingency, universal and particular and such cardinal issues of philosophical debate had been meticulously examined and discussed by Hobbes in his Elements of Philosophy. His method of going to the roots was a fundamental shift and commencement of change in social philosophy. His philosophy was a kind of intervention that helped both transforming philosophy and approach towards social affairs. Hence despite we may have criticism towards certain consequences of his Leviathan, the uniqueness of the shift has to be addressed in detail.  My article intends to explore the uniqueness of the shift introduced by Hobbes in epistemology and consequently in social thought.