O modelo mecanicista de Hobbes e o pacto social

Abstract

This dissertation aims at evaluating the influence of the mechanistic conception of bodies and movement on Thomas Hobbes’ moral and political Philosophy. Grounded on a mechanistic approach characteristic of modernity, he fashioned an abstract model of social pact intended to avoid the radical instability of a society permeated by fear. In addition to this, it will be shown that Hobbes’ contractarianism combines his mechanistic view with the conviction that rationality is an essential instrument to safeguard security and peace what renders it a peculiar type of contractarianism. It will be stressed that it is evident that the application of the premises of Hobbes’ natural philosophy to the sphere of political thought contributed to the formation of a new paradigm devoted to the explanation of the political phenomena that is at odds with the organic conceptions of society centered on the preoccupation with the common good and associated with the belief that human beings are naturally sociable. Hobbes’ concept of sovereignty is artificially-built in order to create and absolute power because there is no other way of guaranteeing peace in society.