Ius non est retinendum. Riflessioni simboliche su potere e rinunzia a partire da Thomas Hobbes

Abstract

Thomas Hobbes’ theoretical model was developed to address the political and juridical problem of disorder. The English philosopher resolves this issue by connecting law, as command and consent, as obedience, within the strict automated artifice of the State, conceived based on rational calculation to ensure peaceful coexistence. Reflecting on absolute power at its constitutive moment, this paper attempts to demonstrate that there is no automatic correspondence between consent and obedience, thereby challenging political-juridical rationality to listen to the echo of the idio-affective dimension. To this end, it employs the methodological tools of symbolic politics – pathic reason, in particular – to engage with the problematic relationship between power and renunciation at the heart of the political obligation.