Hobbes' political theology: An investigation in the context of political philosophy

Although Thomas Hobbes is one of the most mentioned philosophers in the literature of political philosophy, the number of qualified works written on the English philosopher in Turkish literature is almost as much as finger of a hand. Firstly, the widespread acceptance of a belief that Hobbes is the 'founder of the modern secular state' in Turkish academia is a common problem for both readers and writers of the literature. This study does not aim to radically argue a perception that it believes to be misguided by taking the Turkish academic experience into account. Besides, it tries to offer a right analysis of Hobbes' political system by evaluating the above-mentioned perception as the main motivation and first premise of the study. Hence, it can be derived from the overall study to explain what he mainly purposes in his political system, what or whom he targets in his social and philosophical claims. As the above hypothesis is briefly formulated, our main argument can be expressed as follows: Hobbes' aim is not to eliminate religion from the political philosophy; on the contrary, it is to try to find a solution to the conflicts in his own time by putting forward a valid interpretation of it. According to Thomas Hobbes, political philosophy acts in tandem with political theology, and the idea of sovereignty becomes the secular solution to the theological problem of representation. Consequently, it is necessary to analyze a relationship to be established between the theological and the political and to place the sovereignty claim at the center of this relationship.