The Wisdom of Mentor. (May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Norman, Jesse
• Is Part Of: Royal Institute of Philosophy supplement. Volume 91(2022)
• Page Start: 271
• Page End: 280
• Publication Date: 2022-05
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; 100
• DOI: 10.1017/S1358246122000017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1358-2461

Abstract

Abstract: Thomas Hobbes posited a social contract which legitimates sovereign authority. But what grounds, or could ground, such a contract? Through reflection on Oakeshott, and on Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, the paper argues for a so far unrecognised mode of human association: philic association. It briefly considers a possible expression of philic association in the history of English law, before making the case for programmes of mentoring as a policy both reflective and supportive of this mode. It ends by suggesting that the existence of such a mode shows why Hobbes's social contract theory, however ingenious and influential it has proven to be, is neither sufficient nor necessary for its stated purpose.