Subverting the Leviathan: Reading Thomas Hobbes as a Radical DemocratIn Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes's landmark work on political philosophy, James Martel argues that although Hobbes pays lip service to the superior interpretive authority of the sovereign, he consistently subverts this authority throughout the book by returning it to the reader. Martel demonstrates that Hobbes's radical method of reading not only undermines his own authority in the text, but, by extension, the authority of the sovereign as well. To make his point, Martel looks closely at Hobbes's understanding of religious and rhetorical representation. In Leviathan, idolatry is not just a matter of worshipping images but also a consequence of bad reading. Hobbes speaks of the "error of separated essences," in which a sign takes precedence over the idea or object it represents, and warns that when the sign is given such agency, it becomes a disembodied fantasy leading to a "kingdom of darkness." To combat such idolatry, Hobbes offers a method of reading in which one resists the rhetorical manipulation of figures and tropes and recognizes the codes and structures of language for what they are-the only way to convey a fundamental inability to ever know "the thing itself." Making the leap to politics, Martel suggests that following Hobbes's argument, the sovereign can also be seen as idolatrous--a separated essence--a figure who supplants the people it purportedly represents, and that learning to be better readers enables us to challenge, if not defeat, the authority of the sovereign. |
Contents
Hobbess Use of Rhetoric | 21 |
Public Private Reading | 39 |
A Skeptical Theology? | 79 |
False Idols Political Representation | 107 |
The True Covenant | 135 |
The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 177 |
Politics Without Sovereignty | 221 |
Notes | 249 |
| 283 | |
| 293 | |
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Subverting the Leviathan: Reading Thomas Hobbes as a Radical Democrat James Martel Limited preview - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
absolute act of reading actually allegory alternative Anglican Apostles argue argument basis becomes blank Botwinick calls chapter Christ church civil claim concept consider contemporary covenant demonology divine eschatological example fact figure Flathman future God's Hanna Pitkin Hannah Arendt Hobbes offers Hobbes seems Hobbes tells Hobbes writes Hobbes's Hobbes's theory Hobbesian Holy Spirit human Ibid idol idolatry imagery insofar interpretation J. G. A. Pocock Jesus Kahn Kavka kind king kingdom kingdomless Leviathan liberalism meaning messianic metaphor modern Moses Moses's nature negative theology notion obligation passage persons Pitkin political authority Political Theory produced Prokhovnik promise Puritan question radical read Leviathan reader reading of Hobbes religion religious represent representation rhetoric Richard Tuck Scripture sense separated essence serves skepticism Skinner social contract sover sovereign sovereign authority sovereignty speak subversive suggests term thing thinkers Thomas Hobbes tion truth understanding University Press voluntarism Walter Benjamin words worship