Limits Of Reason In Hobbes'S Commonwealth eBook

The Limits of Reason in Hobbes''s Commonwealth explores Hobbes''s attempt to construct a political philosophy of enduring peace on the foundation of the rational individual.  Hobbes''s rational individual, motivated by self-preservation, obeys the laws of the commonwealth and thus is conceived as the model citizen.  Yet Hobbes intimates that there are limits to what such an actor will do for peace, and that the glory-seeker - "too rarely found to be presumed on" - is capable of a generosity that is necessary for political longevity.  Michael P. Krom identifies this as a fundamental contradiction in Hobbes''s system: he builds the commonwealth on the rational actor, yet acknowledges the need for the irrational glory-seeker.