Utility contra utilitarianism: Holbach’s international ethics

Holbach is a largely forgotten figure of the history of ideas. Yet his work was influential on a number of historical thinkers, notably Marx. Famous for his materialistic atheism, Holbach has much to contribute to other fields, and this article details his contribution to international ethics, as well as its applicability in contemporary debates. By reviving his utilitarian theory, this article seeks to rehabilitate a subtle understanding of this ethical theory and contribute to a growing literature on eighteenth-century utilitarian thought and its applicability to contemporary international relations. This article introduces the utilitarian theory of Holbach, detailing the role that virtue ethics plays within it and showing the relative contribution of Holbach to utilitarian debates, notably against the thought of Bentham. Lastly, it applies Holbach’s complex conception of self-interest to the field of international ethics, showing the challenges he raises to realist and liberal theories of international relations, as well as the normative theories of Walzer and Rawls

Lord Monboddo’s Ourang-Outang and the Origin and Progress of Language

During the Enlightenment, the great apes from Africa and Southeast Asia sparked an intense debate about whether these animals should be considered human or not. Language played an important part in these discussions. Not only did the protagonists (anatomists, taxonomists, and philosophers) differ in their opinion over whether language should be regarded an essential part of human nature, but they also thought differently about the linguistic competence of the great apes. After briefly sketching this debate, I will focus on one eccentric voice, Lord Monboddo. This Scottish judge claimed that the Ourang-Outang were humans living in a primitive state and that the study of these creatures could tell us many things about the nature of man, his origins, and the progress of language. Monboddo was convinced that the Ourang-Outang had both the physical and mental capacities to acquire language and at one point even suggested an experiment in which a young ape would be taught to speak. Monboddo’s worldview was built upon ancient Greek philosophy and the Great Chain of Being. Nevertheless, his ideas about the great apes still sound familiar to modern ears

Sociability

How are individuals able to establish peaceful and enduring societies? Although the problem of sociability has been a recurrent concern for moral and political philosophers since antiquity, the early modern period marks an important shift in the conceptualization of human sociability. Moral skepticism, numerous ferocious wars, and the rise of sovereign states prompted the novel needed to study the normative and psychological underpinnings of social order. From the sixteenth century onward, sociability began to function as a bridge concept that was applied to theories of morality and moral psychology, political philosophy, history, international relations, and political economy (see, e.g., Piirimäe and Schmidt 2015; Sagar 2018; Ahnert and Manning 2011; Fiorillo and Grunert 2009; Vollhardt 2001). This entry introduces the early modern conceptions of sociability by focusing on the debate concerning the question how are men turned into social and political animals. Is sociability natural for human beings, or is it merely an artificial device that restrains and motivates the actions of naturally unsociable individuals? During the course of the early modern period, the notion of sociability as an innate inclination that could provide sufficient foundations for mutual sociability in large societies was questioned. As a result, the view of man as a naturally social and political being was gradually replaced by the idea of sociability as an artificial product of historically situated societies.Peer reviewe