The Rhetoric Question in Hobbes

• In Event: Rhetoric, Politics, and Hobbes

Abstract

Over the past few decades a major transformation has occurred in the history of political thought. In contrast to the work that dominated the field during most of the twentieth century, recent scholars have displayed a growing interest not only in the languages of political thought, but in the rhetorical dimensions of texts in the history of political thought. This paper examines Hobbes scholarship since the end of World War II as a first step in assessing the value and limitations of the “rhetorical turn” in the history of political thought. This body of work is a particularly apt starting point for undertaking such an assessment in large part because of the voluminous investigations undertaken during the past few decades examining, first, the “rhetoric” of Leviathan, and second, Hobbes’s views of rhetoric and the rhetorical culture of early modern England. Indeed, no other thinker in the history of political thought has attracted a similar degree of interest on this topic. In addition, however, post-war Hobbes scholarship is marked not only by work that explores the rhetorical dimensions of Hobbes’s thought and texts, but also by many studies that display what I term a “resistance to rhetoric.” By examining systematically these two bodies of literature, it is possible to These two approaches thus provide a body empirical evidence that can be mined to extract clues about how the interpretive protocols adopted by the proponents of these two approaches ultimately structure the interpretations themselves.
I will articulate and defend three interrelated claims. First, I contend that the shift from non- and anti-rhetorical to rhetorical interpretations of Hobbes’s political philosophy corresponds to a shift from viewing Hobbes primarily as a philosopher or proponent of the new sciences to an understanding of Hobbes as first and foremost a political thinker. Second, I maintain that renewed focus on the rhetorical dimensions of Hobbes work has opened up important new avenues of inquiry and lines of interpretation. In doing so, they have both challenged and significantly altered dominant understandings of Hobbes political thought and his intellectual and political legacy. Third, I claim that attention to Hobbes’s rhetoric, as well as his view of rhetoric, is essential for an adequate understanding of Hobbes’s political theory in general, and Leviathan in particular.

Author

• Keith Topper, University of California, Irvine