Philip Pettit, "The State" (Princeton UP, 2023)
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast
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Hobbes' Theory of the Functional State
Hobbes is "the dominant figure in the history of political philosophy," says John Rolle. He doesn't know much about justice, but he's really concerned with what is required for the state to be a functional entity,. And he thinks that is the only workable state. In one version, it's a, an individual that rules. In a second version, it’s a committee of an elite that rule a sovereign. The third is a committee of the whole, which is where every citizen or helps who does those - actually, it was fairly inclusive and would have restricted them to men.
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