On Freedom in Hobbes's Philosophy

Krzysztof Wawrzonkowski

doi:10.18290/rf24723.7

Published : 2024-09-27

Vol. 72 No. 3 (2024)

On Freedom in Hobbes's Philosophy

Krzysztof Wawrzonkowski

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2792-1312

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf24723.7

Abstract

This article aims to present Thomas Hobbes’s views on freedom. I discuss how the philosopher understands freedom and the realm of human actions within which, according to him, it can manifest. In this context, I reconstruct both the state of nature, in which humans lived in less socialized times, and the state of polity, within which they have functioned since creating that artificial body known as the state. Hobbes’s reference to the Latin terms jus and lege, meaning right and law and their consistent application in the philosopher’s subsequent writings facilitates a more precise definition of the scope of human freedom and explains the differences in this matter between the subject and the sovereign. Ultimately, it is this relationship, subject–sovereign, that proves central to a clear and complete understanding of the issue of freedom. Therefore, I devote relatively the most space in the article to its discussion.

Keywords:

Hobbes, freedom, right, law, state of nature, state of polity, artificial body, Leviathan, Elements of Law, De Cive, sovereign, subject

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Hobbes, Thomas. The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury. Vol. 1. Elements of Philosophy. The First Section, Concerning Body, Written in Latin by Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury; And Translated into English. Edited by William Molesworth. London, 1839.

Hobbes, Thomas. The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury. Vol. 2. Philosophical Rudiments Concerning Government and Society by Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury. Edited by William Molesworth. London, 1841.

Hobbes, Thomas. The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury. Vol. 3. Leviathan or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil. Edited by William Molesworth. London, 1839.

Hobbes, Thomas. The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic: To which Are Subjoined Selected Extracts from Unprinted Mss. of Thomas Hobbes. Edited with a preface and critical notes by Ferdinand Tönnies. London: Elibron Classics, 2007.