Thomas Hobbes on betrayal of the fatherland

HORIZON. Studies in Phenomenology 11 (1):421-440 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

My intention is to demonstrate how Hobbes’ attempts to adapt two ancient institutions from Roman Law to his own time and knowledge of theology and philosophy. Treason could be quite significant within the context of Hobbes’ understanding of the figure of the sovereign and sovereignty. The central part of the text is an endeavor to ascertain the source and unconditional condition for treason as such, within the framework of Hobbes’ theory of representation which he writes about in Chapter 16 of the Leviathan. The act or performance in which we could perhaps recognize a traitorous gesture could be found in the so-called paradox of representation. The “traitor” breaks the chain of the transfer of power and empowerment, thus stops representation, and puts an end to speaking in the name of the other. If it is possible to discover whether this is possible and whether speaking and acting in one’s own name always carries elements of treason, then we can conclude that differing forms of “direct” speech and action are “acts of treason.” In that case, what interests me is whether “treason” is found within the heart of representative democracy, and thus if it is de facto an integral part of a democratic order and society.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

    This entry is not archived by us. If you are the author and have permission from the publisher, we recommend that you archive it. Many publishers automatically grant permission to authors to archive pre-prints. By uploading a copy of your work, you will enable us to better index it, making it easier to find.

    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 102,067

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Hobbes on treason and fundamental law.Laurens van Apeldoorn - 2023 - Intellectual History Review 33 (2):183-203.
Hobbes and Corneille on Political Representation.Annabel Herzog - 2009 - The European Legacy 14 (4):379-389.
The Morality of Treason.Cécile Fabre - 2020 - Law and Philosophy 39 (4):427-461.
"Mere Words": The Trial of Ezra Pound.Conrad L. Rushing - 1987 - Critical Inquiry 14 (1):111-133.
Needed but Unwanted. Thomas Hobbes’s Warnings on the Dangers of Multitude, Populism and Democracy.Mikko Jakonen - 2016 - Las Torres de Lucca: Revista Internacional de Filosofía Política 5 (9):89-118.
Christianity and Civil Religion in Hobbes’s Leviathan.Sarah Mortimer - 2013 - In Aloysius Martinich & Kinch Hoekstra (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Hobbes. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Analytics

Added to PP
2022-07-02

Downloads
21 (#1,030,270)

6 months
6 (#797,367)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Petar Bojanić
University of Belgrade

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The metaphysics of morals.Immanuel Kant - 1797 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Mary J. Gregor.
The Problem of Global Justice.Thomas Nagel - 2005 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 33 (2):113-147.
The Concept of Representation.Hanna Fenichel Pitkin - 1974 - Philosophy and Rhetoric 7 (2):128-129.
De Oratore.Marcus Tullius Cicero - 1969 - Philosophy and Rhetoric 2 (2):100-105.
Hobbes and the purely artificial person of the state.Q. Skinner - 1999 - Journal of Political Philosophy 7 (1):1–29.

View all 8 references / Add more references