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How does madison adapt hobbesian minimalism to the minimalism

How does madison adapt hobbesian minimalism to the minimalism he might have deemed requisite to constitution-making?

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Answer #1

What an awesome question, and I feel privileged to address it after more than 3 years sitting unanswered.

First, a few clarifications for others. ‘madison’ refers to James Madison. ‘constitution-making’ in this sense refers to the US Constitution. Hobbesian minimalism refers to the small but all powerful state proposed by Thomas Hobbes in his timeless book “The Leviathan”.

Madison expanded on the idea of the ‘social compact’ as introduced by Hobbes and Locke. He recognized the implication that if government ultimately rested in this social compact, that the state was a tool and not and ends in itself.

He reasoned that although the government existed for the interest of the people, the people were not qualified to form a new national government, so his innovation was the idea of a constitutional convention, whereby what amounted to an aristocratic coup of ‘philosopher kings’ would introduce a new government designed to protect the interests of the governed.

Answer #2

nice!

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