Hobbes on political allegiance and obligation

Since he was convinced that men of virtue were the exception rather than the rule, the primary political problem for Hobbes was how best to guarantee the adherence of men in general to the civil law. Hobbes' solution to this problem appears at times to be inconsistent. This was not the case; Hobbes was advancing two separate, though complementary, theories as to why men do in fact obey the civil law. Whether or not there is a similar kind of duality in Hobbes' argument concerning why men ought to obey lawful authority is also discussed.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviews in This Article: Al-Quran Rendered into English. By Syed Abdul Latif. The Message of the Qur'an Presented in Perspective. By Hashim Amir-Ali. Ibn Kammn?a's Examination of the Three Faiths: A Thirteenth-Century Essay in the Comparative Study of Religion. Translated from the Arabic, with an Introduction and Notes, by Moshe Perlman. Arab Civilization to A.D. 1500. By D. M. Dunlop. The Baha'i Faith: Its History and Teachings. By William McElwee Miller. Jeunesse, Famille et Développement: Essai sur le changement socio-culturel dans un pays du Tiers Monde (Tunisie). By Carmel Camilleri. Jabal al-Akhdar, Cyrenaica: An Historical Geography of Settlement and Livelihood. By Douglas L. Johnson. Is Western Civilization Universal? By Maryam Jameelah. Syria under the Ba'th, 1963-1966: The Army-Party Symbiosis. By Itamar Rabinovich. Politics and Change in Al-Karak, Jordan. By Peter Gubser. Man, State, and Society in the Contemporary Middle East. Edited by Jacob M. Landau.