Ward, Ann (Editor)
Lexington Books
Publication date: 2009
Language: English
Physical Details: xxvi + 241 pp.; ill.; index
Matter and Form explores the relationship that has long existed between natural science and political philosophy. Plato's Socrates articulates the Ideas or Forms as an account of the ultimate source of causality in the cosmos. Aristotle's natural philosophy had a significant impact on his political philosophy: he argues that humans are by nature political animals, having their natural end in the city whose regime is hierarchically structured based on differences in moral and intellectual capacity. Medieval theorists attempt to synthesize classical natural and political philosophy with the revealed truths of scripture; they argue that divine reason structures an ordered universe, the awareness of which allows for psychic and political harmony among human beings. Enlightenment thinkers challenge the natural philosophy of classical and medieval philosophers, ushering in a more liberal political order. For example, for Hobbes, there is no rest in nature as there are no Aristotelian forms or natural places that govern matter. Hobbes applies his mechanistic understanding of material nature to his understanding of human nature: individuals are by nature locked in an endless pursuit of power until death. However, from this mechanistic understanding of humanity's natural condition, Hobbes develops a social contract theory in which civil and political society is constituted from consent. Later thinkers, such as Locke and Rousseau, modify this Hobbesian premise in their pursuit of the protection of rights and a free society. Nevertheless, materialist conceptions of the cosmos have not always given rise to liberal democratic philosophies. Historicist influence on scientific inquiry in the nineteenth century is connected to Darwin's theory of evolution; Darwin reasoned that over time the process of natural selection produces ever newer and more highly adapted species. Reflecting a form of social Darwinism, Nietzsche envisions an aristocratic order that draws its inspiration from art rather than the rationalism
...MoreDescription Contents:
Review Camp, Nathan Van (2013) Review of "Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy". European Legacy (p. 259).
Chapter Al-Maini, Douglas (2009) The Polis Philosophers. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 3).
Chapter Zoller, Coleen (2009) Plato's Science of Living Well. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 35).
Chapter Younesie, Mostafa (2009) Understanding Aristotle's Politics through Form and Matter. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 45).
Chapter Meguid, Ahmed El-Sayed Abdel (2009) Realism and Liberalism in the Naturalistic-Psychological Roots of Averroēs Critique of Plato's Republic. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 71).
Chapter Raymond, Dwayne (2009) Parmenidean Intuitions in Descartes' Theory of the Heart's Motion. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 103).
Chapter Ulrich, Paul (2009) Hobbe's Natural Condition and his Natural Science of the Mind in Leviathan. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 119).
Chapter Makus, Ingrid (2009) Hobbes and Aristotle on Biology, Reason and Reproduction. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 163).
Chapter Sorenson, Leonard R. (2009) Rousseau's Botanical-Political Problem: On the Nature of Nature and Political Philosophy. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 195).
Chapter Robinson, Steven (2009) Contrasting Biological and Humanistic Approaches to the Evolution of Political Morality. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 211).
Chapter Ward, Ann (2009) The Immortality of the Soul and the Origin of the Cosmos in Plato's Phaedo. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 19).
Chapter Weinman, Michael (2009) Making “Men See Clearly”: Physical Imperfection and Mathematical Order in Ptolemy's Syntaxis. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 57).
Chapter Schaefer, David Lewis (2009) Skepticism, Science, and Politics in Montaigne's Essays. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 87).
Chapter Lemetti, Juhana (2009) From Metaphysics to Ethics and Beyond: Hobbe's Reaction to Aristotelian Essentialism. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 147).
Chapter Ward, Lee (2009) Locke and the Problematic Relation between Natural Science and Moral Philosophy. In: Matter and Form: From Natural Science to Political Philosophy (p. 179).
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