Book Review: Political Theory: Hobbes Today: Insights for the 21st Century
| DOI | 10.1111/1478-9302.12067_27 |
| Published date | 01 September 2014 |
| Date | 01 September 2014 |
| Author | Erik De Bom |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
wear condoms when engaged in the rape his army is
systematically inflicting on the population, what should
she have said? To ignore the question or to state
directly that he simply ought not to do it at all has the
virtue of keeping her hands clean but arguably at the
expense of future rape victims who are more likely to
suffer infection with HIV in addition to the immediate
crime itself. But if she answers that he should [wear a
condom], doesn’t she become complicit in the crime?
Goodin and Lepora offer a systematic, detailed analy-
sis of the moral issues facing professionals forced to
negotiate such complex dilemmas. They distinguish
carefully between a wide range of concepts that are
often confused when scholars speak of complicity and
compromise, and differentiate between a spectrum of
types and degrees of involvement by which well-
intentioned actors may find themselves implicated as
‘secondary agents’ in the crimes of principals. An
important chapter then offers a formula for assessing the
degrees of responsibility that must be ascribed to indi-
viduals who allow themselves to become implicated in
wrongdoing in some indirect way as a lesser evil com-
pared with doing nothing and missing the chance of
softening its effects. Finally, the book closes with
insightful case studies on Rwanda and on the involve-
ment of medical professionals in torture, respectively.
This book is essential reading not only for philoso-
phers who will find in it a rich, original and revealing
contribution to ethics and political theory, but also for
practitioners. Its marriage of theory and practice is
path-breaking.
Chrisopher Finlay
(University of Birmingham)
Hobbes Today: Insights for the 21st Century by
S. A. Lloyd (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2012. 375pp., £17.99, ISBN 978 0521169783
Ever since the publication of the works of, among
others, Quentin Skinner, it has been repeated more
than once that the history of political philosophy is not
about perennial questions, let alone perennial answers.
Just as the answers are changing over time, so too are
the questions. For that reason it is appropriate to turn
to an early modern author and engage with him in a
dialogue as if he were still present.
Nothing is wrong with such an approach a priori as
long as one is aware of the fact that the questions he
raised are not the same as the ones we ask ourselves
today. Taking that precaution into account, such a
point of departure might engender fruitful insights.
And that is exactly what Sharon Lloyd provides in
her edited book on Hobbes Today. All the contribu-
tors reflect on ‘the relevance of Hobbesian theory to
the problems we confront today’ (p. xi). A produc-
tive collaboration has been set up in the sense that
talented Hobbes scholars have extended their knowl-
edge into contemporary issues and political philoso-
phers, legal theorists and political scientists have
applied their expertise on Hobbes. The result is a
sparkling book full of insightful results and some
surprising readings.
The book is divided into three sections. The first
concentrates on the application to governmental
power with discussions on Hobbes’ theory of rights,
the notion of equality and the representation of sov-
ereignty. In the second part, on the application to
civil society and domestic institutions, such issues are
raised as fiscal policy, punishment and the duty to
fight for one’s country. In the last section the authors
investigate how Hobbes’ ideas apply to problems of
global scope with interesting expositions on global
justice, just war theory and human rights. These con-
tributions, which are all of high quality, show that
certain (aspects of ) questions remain appealing today
and, even, that certain answers from the past are still
relevant in some respects. This gives rise to more
fundamental thought: What is the underlying theo-
retical framework of the approach for applying
Hobbesian insights to contemporary challenges and,
maybe even more importantly, what are the conse-
quences for our understanding of Hobbes and con-
temporary problems and events? Indeed, this might
even have been the subject of an additional chapter –
maybe one written by Skinner himself, who is a true
Hobbes specialist with broad experience in political
philosophy.
Erik De Bom
(University of Leuven)
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© 2014 The Authors. Political Studies Review © 2014 Political Studies Association
Political Studies Review: 2014, 12(3)
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