Political Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and Rene Descartes

centeriPolitics should be the application of the science Of man to the construction of the community Explain this remark and discuss what reasons there might be for thinking it is not true/i/centerbrbrIn this essay I intend to examine the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and Rene Descartes, in particular their ideas relating to the science of man, and attempt to explain why their ideas prove that it is not possible to construct a science of man.brbrI will also briefly mention the philosophy of Donald Davidson in regards to a science of man.brbrThe theories of Hobbes and the contemporary socio-biologists attempt to recognise how man works and on that basis build a society.brbrHobbes wished to be seen as the†¦show more content†¦This is due to the fact that many psychological and political theories are founded on the basis that there is a science of man. Without this science of man these theories are in turn questioned and therefore cannot be viably backed as reasons for the construction of the community.brbrAnother prolific philosopher whose arguments should be taken into account is Rene Descartes. Descartes thinks that we, as humans, are made up of two separate substances. The body is the physical stuff and the mind - the res cogitans (thinking thing) - purely mental stuff.brbrThe res cogitans can will your body to move. The difficulty with Descartes theory is that the mind and body interact; if you pour boiling water on you hand, you will feel pain. Again we have to take into account voluntary and vital motions.brbrA voluntary motion is me moving my arm. A vital motion is my arm moving. I move my arm because I want to; but I may not necessarily want it to be moved. This can happen for a number of reasons. It may be possible that I have a muscle spasm in my arm or that somebody moves it.brbrAll of this suggests that for Descartes theory to be correct there must be some kind of connection between a material substance (the body) and an immaterial su bstance (the mind).brbrHowever, we will find it impossible toShow MoreRelatedInternational Relations ( Ir )983 Words   |  4 PagesInternational relations (IR) is one of the fascinating fields of political science that different ancient and modern philosophers have written about. When reading for David Hume or Renà © Descartes, I have found many ideas that could be applicable to global politics and the relations between states. Even though these ideas might not be aligned with Hume or Descartes’s individual political philosophies, they are worth applying to the current global political system. 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