CONTRIBUTI/ 3 / di Ilaria Ferrara
Hobbes’ philosophy expresses a link between the theory of the state and the doctrine of passions. In particular, contrary to an interpretation of modern political thought, elaborated during the Enlightenment and centered on the concept of state, meant as an expression of calculating reason, in the Leviathan emerges the connection between political consensus and desire, between reason and passions. The role of emotions in ancient and medieval philosophy was in a position of subordination to reason and, in the political sphere, passions had secondary weight. With modern philosophy and Hobbes there is a recovery of passions, which are integrated into the concept of state to explain the problem of consensus. In particular, starting from his materialistic gnoseology, Hobbes focuses on the imagination, understood as a subjective activity linked to time; moreover, the concept of fear of the death is the starting point for the theory of legitimization of the state.
