Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law Tradition

Pre-eminent among European political philosophers Norberto Bobbio has throughout his career turned to the political theory of Thomas Hobbes. Gathered here for the first time are the most important of his essays which together provide both a valuable introduction to Hobbess thought and a fresh understanding of Hobbess place in the theory of modern politics. Tracing Hobbess work through De Cive and Leviathan Bobbio identifies the philosophers relation to the tradition of natural law. That Hobbes must now be understood in both this tradition as well as in the seemingly contradictory positivist tradition becomes clear for the first time in Bobbios account. Bobbio also demonstrates that Hobbes cannot be easily labelled "liberal" or "totalitarian"; in Bobbios provocative analysis of Hobbess justification of the state Hobbes emerges as a true conservative. Though his primary concern is to reconstruct the inner logic of Hobbess thought Bobbio is also attentive to the philosophers biography and weaves into his analysis details of Hobbess life and worldhis exile in France his relation with the Mersenne circle his disputes with Anglican bishops and accusations of heresy leveled against him. The result is a revealing thoroughly new portrait of the first theorist of the modern state.