Hobbes' argument in Leviathan can be viewed as a response to the question of why rational human beings should choose to organize themselves into a state. In Hobbes' words, the argument, in large part, attempts to establish the 'causes' of a 'commonwealth'. However, the fact of the matter is that human beings do not organize themselves into a. state; rather, they organize themselves into a plurality of states. The question then becomes one of determining — again in Hobbes' words — the 'causes' of a plurality of 'commonwealths'. In other words, why do rational human beings choose to organize themselves into separate states? It is not clear to me that Hobbes' answered this question; nor is it clear to me that Hobbes' arguments can be extended in order to provide a satisfactory answer to this question. Since international theory is concerned with the plurality of states, it seems reasonable to suppose that an 'Hobbesian' tradition in international thought would have provided at least some insight into the question of the 'causes' of such a plurality. In other words, an 'Hobbesian' tradition in international thought must have at least considered why it is that several Leviathans would emerge from the state of nature. However, having examined the current conception of the 'Hobbesian' tradition, I found that it was simply the 'realist' tradition under a different label; a tradition to which Hobbes' name had been appropriated. Furthermore, I found that the appropriation of Hobbes' name was justified on the basis of his chapter 13 analogy which compared— albeit in a limited way — his theoretical inference of the state of nature with his observations of relations among sovereigns. I argue that the analogy, being neither a definition nor an inference, has no theoretical relationship with Hobbes' main argument; in which case it cannot form the basis of a genuine Hobbesian tradition. Having established that the current Hobbesian tradition is not a genuine one, I propose that a genuine tradition should a least render an account of the emergence of several Levaithans from the state of nature and conclude that this cannot be done without compromising Hobbes' account of the state. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

La filosofía política de Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) tiene como fundamento último una teología política que deduce del cristianismo el fundamento del poder absoluto del soberano. A esta altura del estado del arte, esto no resulta nada nuevo, y la importante literatura al respecto, que mencionaremos más adelante, así lo demuestra, lo que no deja de sorprender en un pensador que fue considerado por mucho tiempo como un ateo. Sin embargo, nos parece que el uso que hace Hobbes de las Escrituras es muchas veces incorrecto, inadecuado, reductor y acomodaticio, dejando fuera aspectos esenciales del cristianismo y, destacando sólo aquellos que les sirven para sus propósitos. De forma tal, que, por un lado, su teología política es discutible, y, por otro, su interpretación de las Escrituras acrecienta, en vez de disminuir, su fama de ateo. En consecuencia, pensamos, que es necesario realizar un análisis crítico del lugar que ocupa la religión, y el cristianismo, en su sistema de ideas para apreciar lo bien o mal fundada que resulta su filosofía política cuando a los argumentos filosóficos se agregan los teológicos. Éste será nuestro aporte al tema, la crítica a los fundamentos de su teología política. Creemos que Hobbes hace un uso abusivo de las Escrituras para darle un fundamento religioso a su política, de esta forma, pretende darle una mayor fuerza persuasiva a sus escritos, y un fundamento superior a su filosofía política. Ésta es nuestra tesis. Nuestra estudio, en consecuencia, tiene como propósito analizar la relación entre religión y política en la filosofía de Thomas Hobbes con el fin de evaluar el lugar que la religión ocupa en su filosofía política, al punto de que se pueda hablar de la existencia de una teología política en su filosofía. Entendemos por teología política, una política cuyos fundamentos son religiosos o teológicos.

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