Loving The Leviath Thomas Hobbes And The Foundations Of...

Loving the Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes and the Foundations of Civic Nationalism Supporting the premise of individual rights is the radical concept that liberalism was founded on. As a result, liberals found it quite difficult to embrace and accommodate any strong idea of any form of community. The only exception they accept is the national community where individuals are expected to forsake their personal comfort space and sacrifice when the difficult times arise. The paper ‘’Loving the Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes and the Foundations of Civic Nationalism,’’ argues that the connection between liberalism and nationalism is not only a  «historical marriage of convenience » where liberalisms’s function is oriented more for the internal politics,†¦show more content†¦The author also insists saying that civic nationalism does not seem to be a native or fundamental liberal concept. Kane argues that the connection between liberalism and civic national ism is not a theoretically accidental as it first seems. To support his view, he chose to return to the work of one of the most influential political theorist, Thomas Hobbes, in order to come to an understanding of the debated issue. Hobbes reputation can not be described as a nationalist the way this term is understood in our present days. Kane, will argue that Hobbes very sternest of his naturalistic and individualist premises created a ‘‘theoretical dilemma that pointed toward the inculcation of nationalistic sentiment.’’ However, according to the author, naturalistic, implies love of one’s nation. On the other hand, we know of Hobbes being quite contemptuous of the passion of love. Therefore, the complex attitude that Hobbes expressed on this subject, is the issue the author proposed for examination. Kane quotes Patapan and Sikkenga stating that Hobbes was aware of the philosophical tradition that started with Plato in which love as Eros served a s a central element. He aimed to totally reject this hypothesis and instead insisted on placing political theory on