Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 87 No. 1, 2017.
Original scientific paper
The Paradox of the Modern Reinvention of Politics
Peter Rožič
orcid.org/0000-0002-1921-5023
; University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Theology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
If modern philosophy is wary of religion and tradition, why did Hobbes and Locke find natural law politics incomprehensible without concepts of God and reason? Reinventing the principle of natural law, Hobbes and Locke use God and reason to allow two developments concerning politics. The system of the Hobbesian God ensures the ultimate authority of the state through the natural, once reason, by constructing the state, has shown the need for its existence. For Locke, reason discovers the law of nature and in this discovery reason discovers itself. Since Locke’s law of nature is both given by God and intelligible, it allows the relativisation of positive laws and the justification of human rights. Since reason becomes more autonomous from tradition and (catholic) religion, it gives itself the notion of God and uses it for its own purpose: to ensure the life of individuals in society. The reinvention of natural law makes it possible to uncover the modern link between the individual and the society.
Keywords
Natural Law; Hobbes; Locke; politics; political; God; reason; reinvention
Hrčak ID:
181572
URI
Publication date:
15.5.2017.
Visits: 1.171 *