Power and Law, Democracy and Anarchy in Hobbes’ De Cive

Abstract

This article focuses on the questions left open by the impossibility of a “natural” transfer of forces from individuals to the state. In this sense, it shows how Hobbesian discourse is articulated on at least two levels: a dominant level, which sees force or power as a consequence of law, and a more withdrawn, almost removed level, which sees law as a consequence of force or power. Through this path, it aims to clarify in what sense and within what limits democracy can represent, if not the ultimate horizon of Hobbesian politics, at least the void that invisibly structures its discourse.