Book contents
- Space and Fates of International Law
- ASIL Studies in International Legal Theory
- Space and Fates of International Law
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Note on Uses of Leibniz’s and Hobbes’s Works and Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Science and Law in the Seventeenth Century
- 2 Space
- 3 The Idea of Universals and Human Cognition
- 4 Law
- 5 Intermezzo
- 6 Space(s) of International Law
- Conclusions and the Way Forward
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - The Idea of Universals and Human Cognition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 August 2020
- Space and Fates of International Law
- ASIL Studies in International Legal Theory
- Space and Fates of International Law
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Note on Uses of Leibniz’s and Hobbes’s Works and Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Science and Law in the Seventeenth Century
- 2 Space
- 3 The Idea of Universals and Human Cognition
- 4 Law
- 5 Intermezzo
- 6 Space(s) of International Law
- Conclusions and the Way Forward
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The chapter presents respective views of Hobbes and Leibniz on the issue of universals and human cognition. This chapter represents a bridge between the chapter on space and the chapter on law. Hobbesian nominalism rejecting any universals but names can only be fully appreciated against his views on space, materiality of which emerges form the materiality of bodies. This focus on materiality determining his nominalism also defines his view of human cognition where truth is simply an able use of language. Leibniz’s space as a logical grounding, as an order of relationships determines his belief in the existence of universals as well as his insistence on the capacity of human mind to access eternal truths. Thus, if for Hobbes the main question becomes how to control discourse, for Leibniz the central issue is articulation of ways to discover and thus know eternal truths.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Space and Fates of International LawBetween Leibniz and Hobbes, pp. 57 - 87Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020