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1.1 the Notion of Self-Preservation in the Philosophy of Aristotle

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1.1 the Notion of Self-Preservation in the Philosophy of Aristotle THE ANCIENT NOTION OF SELF- PRESERVATION IN THE THEORIES OF HOBBES AND SPINOZA Justin B. Jacobs King’s College University of Cambridge A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History July 2010 Table of Contents Declaration of Originality and Word Count .............................................................................. i Dissertation Summary .......................................................................................................... ii-iii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. iv-v Textual Conventions & Abbreviations ............................................................................... vi-viii Preface ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Notion of Self-Preservation in the Philosophy of Aristotle ................................... 14 Motion: A Conceptual Link in Aristotle’s Philosophy ............................................................. 17 The Soul as Form and Capacity in De anima .......................................................................... 20 The Senses and Self-Preservation .......................................................................................... 24 Desire and the Good in Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics ................................................. 34 The Self as ‘Other’ in Aristotelian Ethics ................................................................................ 40 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 45 1.2 The Notion of Self-Preservation in Stoic and Epicurean Thought ................................ 48 Bodies and Resistance in Stoic and Epicurean Natural Philosophy ........................................ 51 Epicurean Hedonê as Self-Preservation ................................................................................. 56 Self-Preservation and Stoic Oikeiōsis .................................................................................... 66 Natural Politics in Stoic, Peripatetic and Epicurean Thought ................................................. 77 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 84 2. The Reception and Dissemination of Aristotelian, Stoic and Epicurean Thought in Sixteenth- and Early- Seventeenth-Century Europe ........................................................... 86 The Scholastic Aristotle .......................................................................................................... 88 Aristotle in Europe’s Catholic Universities ............................................................................. 90 The Protestant Engagement with Aristotle ............................................................................ 92 The Humanist Aristotle .......................................................................................................... 94 Seneca, Justus Lipsius and the Emergence of Neostoicism ................................................... 99 Stoic Thought in the Civil Philosophy of Hugo Grotius ........................................................ 105 Pierre Gassendi and the Advent of Neoepicureanism ......................................................... 115 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 125 3. The Ancient Notion of Self-Preservation in the Theories of Thomas Hobbes ............. 128 Hobbes, Scholasticism and the ‘New Science’ ..................................................................... 128 Self-Preservation in the Natural Philosophy of Hobbes ....................................................... 155 Self-Preservation in Hobbes’s Moral Psychology ................................................................. 174 Self-Preservation and the Formation of the State in Hobbes’s Political Philosophy ........... 194 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 201 4. The Ancient Notion of Self-Preservation in the Theories of Benedict Spinoza ........... 206 ‘Spinoza the Stoic’: A Reassessment .................................................................................... 209 Nature, Providence and Self-Preservation in the Early Ethical Works ................................. 219 Spinoza and Cartesian Conatus ............................................................................................ 234 Self-Preservation and Hellenistic Philosophy in Spinoza’s Ethics ......................................... 247 Self-Preservation and the Formation of the State in Spinoza’s Political Writings ............... 266 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 272 Works Cited ......................................................................................................................... 277 Declaration of Originality and Word Count I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing that is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text. I further declare that no part of this dissertation has already been or is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma, or other qualification here or at any other University. I attest that the word count of this dissertation does not exceed the 80,000 word limit set out in the guidelines of the Faculty of History PhD Course Handbook (Sec. 4.3.1, p. 15) and on the Board of Graduate Studies’ Format of the Thesis webpage (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/current/submitting/phd/format.html). Word Count: 79,943 ________________________ ______________________ Justin B. Jacobs Date i Dissertation Summary Over the course of four sections this PhD examines the ways in which the Aristotelian, Stoic and Epicurean philosophers portray bodily activity. In particular, it argues that their claims regarding bodies’ natural tendency to preserve themselves, and seek out the goods capable of promoting their well-being, came to influence Hobbes’s and Spinoza’s later accounts of natural, animal and social behaviour. The first section presents the ancient accounts of natural and animal bodily tendencies and explores the specific ways in which the Aristotelian, Stoic and Epicurean views on animal desires came to complement and diverge from each other. After investigating the perceived links between natural philosophy, psychology and ethics, the section proceeds to consider how the ancients used this ‘unified’ view of nature to guide their accounts of the soul’s primary appetites and desires. Also examined is the extent to which civil society is portrayed as a means of securing the individual against others, and how Aristotelian philia, Theophrastian oikeiotês and Stoic oikeiōsis came to stand in opposition to the fear-driven and compact-based accounts of social formation favoured by the Epicureans. The second section considers how the ancient accounts of impulsive behaviour and social formation were received and diffused via new editions of ancient texts, eclectic readings of Aristotle, and the attempts of Neostoic and Neoepicurean authors to update and systematise those philosophies from the late sixteenth century onwards. The particular treatments of Hellenistic thought by authors such as Justus Lipsius, Hugo Grotius and Pierre Gassendi are considered in detail and are placed within the context of the growing trend to use Stoic and Epicurean thought to replace the authority of Aristotle in the areas of science, psychology, and politics. The final two sections are devoted respectively to considering the ways in which Hobbes and Spinoza encountered the Hellenistic accounts of bodies and demonstrating how these earlier accounts came to feature in each of their own ii discussions of bodily tendencies. Engaging with a wide range of their texts, each section develops the many nuances and contours that emerged as both writers developed and fine-tuned their accounts of bodily actions. This reveals the many ways in which the ancient accounts of self-preservation helped to unify large aspects of Hobbes’s and Spinoza’s own philosophical corpus, while equally showing how a well-developed account of bodily tendencies might challenge the scholastic worldview and expand further the boundaries of the so-called ‘New Science’. iii Acknowledgements There are many people who have helped me along over these past few years and it is a pleasure to recognise them at the outset of this dissertation. Firstly, I would like to thank the trustees of the Martin Foundation and the Cambridge Overseas Trust for their generous financial support. I would also like to express my gratitude to King’s College, Cambridge for providing me with funds to travel to the Netherlands and Italy, where visits to the Spinozahuis and ancient Roman monuments provided much welcomed respites from the long days spent researching in the library. Certain individuals have played an important role in helping me to better understand the various complexities of my chosen topic and their expertise and advice have all been greatly appreciated. As a Visiting Assistant in Research at Yale
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