The puzzle of the sovereign’s smile and the inner complexity of Hobbes’s theory of authorisation

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11348391
AutoresEva Odzuck (0000-0001-6549-1291, University of Regensburg, autor de correspondencia), Eva Helene Odzuck (University of Regensburg)
Año2024
Volumen50
Número5
Páginas717-732
Fecha de publicación2024-07-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHistory of European Ideas (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0191-6599 • E-ISSN: 1873-541X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01916599.2024.2304324
OpenAlexW4391032041
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas33

Hobbes’s theory of authorisation poses numerous puzzles to scholars. The weightiest of these conundrums is a supposed contradiction between chapter 17 of Leviathan, that calls for unconditional submission to the sovereign, and chapter 21, that defends the liberties of the subject. This article offers a fresh perspective on the theory’s consistency, function and addressees. While existing research doubts the theory’s consistency, focuses on its immunisation function and on the subjects as the theory’s main addresses, the paper argues that Hobbes’s theory of authorisation is consistent with the doctrine of the liberty of subjects, and that it serves the dual purpose of immunising the sovereign against criticism and disciplining the sovereign via a counsel of memento mori: A hitherto underexplored element of authorisation theory is a reminder of the mortality of sovereignty directed at the sovereign to convince him to make restricted use of his absolute right to rule. Hobbes’s theory of authorisation can thus be read as part of a complex argumentative strategy for peace, rooted in a ‘liberal absolutism’ which is not as paradoxical as it sounds, and which is reflected in the frontispiece by the friendly smile of the sovereign

Authorization · Computer security · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theory and Influence · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought