The Metaphysical Theory of the State
E842421
The Metaphysical Theory of the State is a political and philosophical critique by L. T. Hobhouse that challenges idealist justifications of state authority and defends liberal individualism.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Metaphysical Theory of the State canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T10115282 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Metaphysical Theory of the State Context triple: [L. T. Hobhouse, notableWork, The Metaphysical Theory of the State]
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A.
Philosophical Rudiments Concerning Government and Society
Philosophical Rudiments Concerning Government and Society is the English translation of Thomas Hobbes’s political treatise *De Cive*, which expounds his views on the nature of civil society, sovereignty, and the social contract.
-
B.
The Myth of the State
The Myth of the State is a posthumously published philosophical work by Ernst Cassirer that analyzes the role of myth and symbolic thought in the rise of modern political ideologies and totalitarianism.
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C.
The Concept of the Political
The Concept of the Political is Carl Schmitt’s influential treatise that defines the political realm through the friend–enemy distinction and critiques liberalism’s attempt to depoliticize conflict.
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D.
Man and the State
Man and the State is a political philosophy work by Jacques Maritain that explores the nature of the state, human rights, and the relationship between individual persons and political authority within a Christian personalist framework.
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E.
Man, the State, and War
Man, the State, and War is a foundational work of international relations theory by Kenneth N. Waltz that analyzes the causes of war through three levels of analysis: the individual, the state, and the international system.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Metaphysical Theory of the State Target entity description: The Metaphysical Theory of the State is a political and philosophical critique by L. T. Hobhouse that challenges idealist justifications of state authority and defends liberal individualism.
-
A.
Philosophical Rudiments Concerning Government and Society
Philosophical Rudiments Concerning Government and Society is the English translation of Thomas Hobbes’s political treatise *De Cive*, which expounds his views on the nature of civil society, sovereignty, and the social contract.
-
B.
The Myth of the State
The Myth of the State is a posthumously published philosophical work by Ernst Cassirer that analyzes the role of myth and symbolic thought in the rise of modern political ideologies and totalitarianism.
-
C.
The Concept of the Political
The Concept of the Political is Carl Schmitt’s influential treatise that defines the political realm through the friend–enemy distinction and critiques liberalism’s attempt to depoliticize conflict.
-
D.
Man and the State
Man and the State is a political philosophy work by Jacques Maritain that explores the nature of the state, human rights, and the relationship between individual persons and political authority within a Christian personalist framework.
-
E.
Man, the State, and War
Man, the State, and War is a foundational work of international relations theory by Kenneth N. Waltz that analyzes the causes of war through three levels of analysis: the individual, the state, and the international system.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (42)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
political philosophy book ⓘ work of political theory ⓘ |
| addresses |
legitimacy of political authority
ⓘ
moral limits of state power ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
reassert primacy of the individual over the state
ⓘ
undermine metaphysical foundations of state absolutism ⓘ |
| author |
L. T. Hobhouse
ⓘ
Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse ⓘ
linked to:
L. T. Hobhouse
|
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| critiques |
British neo-Hegelianism
ⓘ
Hegelian political theory ⓘ absolute state sovereignty ⓘ idealist justifications of state authority ⓘ |
| defends |
individual rights
ⓘ
liberal individualism ⓘ moral autonomy of the individual ⓘ |
| describes | relationship between individual and state ⓘ |
| field |
philosophy
ⓘ
political philosophy ⓘ political science ⓘ |
| genre |
liberal political theory
ⓘ
political philosophy ⓘ |
| hasCentralTheme |
limits of metaphysical reasoning in politics
ⓘ
moral evaluation of state action ⓘ priority of persons over institutions ⓘ |
| hasPhilosophicalPerspective |
anti-idealist
ⓘ
liberalism ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
British liberal tradition
ⓘ
classical liberalism ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
British idealism
ⓘ
liberal individualism ⓘ political idealism ⓘ political obligation ⓘ social philosophy ⓘ state authority ⓘ |
| opposes |
organic theory of the state
ⓘ
subordination of the individual to the state ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
critique of Hegelianism
ⓘ
liberal theory of the state ⓘ social contract traditions ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Metaphysical Theory of the State Description of subject: The Metaphysical Theory of the State is a political and philosophical critique by L. T. Hobhouse that challenges idealist justifications of state authority and defends liberal individualism.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.