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• Thomas Hobbes and the dilemmas of the natural state: First chapter – The axiomatic nature of total war

  3-24

  Levente Nagy

  Views:

  29

  The purpose of this paper is to reflect on some the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, one of the founders
  of modern political philosophy, best known for his masterpiece, Leviathan. The aim of this essay
  is not to provide a full scale analysis of Hobbes’ main work, nor to present his moral or political
  philosophy, nor to reflect on the significance of his impact on later political thinkers. The aim is
  more modest, and the theme under scrutiny is more narrow: the paper is devoted to a critical
  analysis of the main premise (state of the nature) of Hobbes’ theory of power, including the
  ambivalent character of the state of nature, as well as the logical dilemmas that arise during
  the analysis.

  After a general presentation of Hobbes’s philosophy and of the logical construction of his
  work, I will tend to focus on two aspects of the state of nature: firstly, I will analyse the assumed
  analogy between the state of nature and the Book of Genesis; secondly, I will examine whether
  the „war of all against all” is an axiomatic outcome of the „primitive” state. It turns out, that the
  answers for these questions are not so unanbiguous.

• Youth NGOs at home and abroad

  216-231

  Anita Kiss

  Views:

  9

  NGOs are now considered by social researchers to be a full member of society, and are increasingly visible in public awareness, media and vocabulary, which shows their growing influence and importance.
  Their numbers are constantly growing, and their services and activities are expanding. However, in addition to the wide range of tasks and services, there are common features of NGOs that make them a completely separate sector. Their mission is to serve the public and the community, without profit-making being their primary objective (Bányai 1997).
  The non-profit sector includes those organisations in society which operate as private institutions but in fact serve community purposes (Simon 1998).

  Since the range of activities of NGOs is very broad and it is difficult to draw conclusions from the whole, the focus of this short study is on youth NGOs.