Talking Wolves Thomas Hobbes on the Language of Politics and the Pol

Talking Wolves advances an analysis of Hobbes which takes language seriously (as seriously as Hobbes took it). It presents a reading of Hobbes's view of society at large, and political society in particular, through a comprehensive discussion based on, an

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TALKING WOLVES Thomas Hobbes on the Language of Politics and the Politics of Language

SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.

Llbrary of Congress Cataloglng-In-Publlcatlon Data

Biletzk I, Anat. Talking wolves : Thomas Hobbes on the language of polltlcs and the polltlcs of language I Anat Bl1etzkl. p. cm. -- (Synthese 11brary ; v. 262) lnc 1udes 1nd ex . ISBN 978-90-481-4801-1 ISBN 978-94-015-8887-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-8887-4

1. Language and languages--Polltlcal aspects. 2. HObbes, Thomas, 1588-1679--Contrlbutlons In phl10sophy of language. I. Tltle. II. Serles. P119.3.B55 1997 192--dc21 96-54216

ISBN 978-90-481-4801-1

Printed on acid-free paper

All Rights Reserved © 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1997 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrleval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.

TALKING WOLVES

SYNTHESE LIBRARY STUDIES IN EPISTEMOLOGY, LOGIC, METHODOLOGY, AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Managing Editor: JAAKKO HINTIKKA, Boston University

Editors: DIRK VAN DALEN, University ofUtrecht, The Netherlands DONALD DAVIDSON, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley THEO A.F. KUIPERS, University ofGroningen, The Netherlands PATRICK SUPPES, Stanford University, California JAN WOLENSKI, Jagiellonian University, Krak6w, Poland

VOLUME262

CONTENTS

PREFACE INTRODUCTION

Vll

1

PART I: LANGUAGE

15

Chapter 1: Human Voices: Semantics and Beyond

20

Chapter 2: Use and Effect: Speech as Use

37

Chapter 3: Speech Useful: A Theory of Language Use

57

PART 11: THE LANGUAGE OF POLITICS

70

Chapter 4: Conversation of Mankind: The Meaning of Moral Concepts

77

Chapter 5: Everyman 's Will: Speech Acts

92

Chapter 6: A Common Language: Natural, Social and Linguistic

112

PART 111: THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE

136

Chapter 7: Policy Ecclesiasticall: Religious Interpretation

138

Chapter 8: Eloquence Is Power: The Office of Rhetoric

154

CONCLUSION

178

APPENDIX: Pragmatics

193

BIBLIOGRAPHY

199

INDEX

208

PREFACE The philosophy of language is my profession; politics is my life. My professional interest in Hobbes was stimulated when I became aware of the fascinating aspects of his philosophy of language, which was not, prima facie, tightly bound to his political philosophy. His political philosophy, on the other hand, was a deep, wide ocean which was not, prima facie, of particular interest to my specific political agenda. But language and politics cannot be separated. I do not make this statement under the postmodern umbrella which is having its heyday in current philosophy and culture studies. That is to say, I do not allude here to the now-dominant trends of thought which either view all phenomena of intellectual activity as language games, or address all products of the human mind as oriented t