Abstract

CASTELO BRANCO, Pedro Hermílio Villas Bôas. Invisible versus visible powers in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. Rev. Sociol. Polit. [online]. 2004, n.23, pp. 23-41. ISSN 0104-4478.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0104-44782004000200004.

This article researches the process of secularization of politics proposed in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. It starts from the hypothesis that- rather than representing a break with a previous theological tradition - the work adapts the terms and theoretical concerns of the latter to new topics and concerns. In more concrete terms, from the secularization of politics that Hobbes proposes regarding the separation of Church and State that would subordinate the former to the latter, two principles should follow: 1) that ecclesiastic action seeks the saving of souls, which means that its results are "other-worldly"; and 2) since the major goal of the State is to promote civil order and since religious matters are major sources of conflict, the Church should subordinate itself to the State. More specifically, the secularization proposed in the Leviathan removes Law from the sphere of the Moral, moving from rules obtained in the arena of the intimate to that which has been strictly instituted by the powers of the sovereign.

Keywords : Thomas Hobbes; Leviathan; secularization; separation of Church and State; Church's subordination to the State.