The Laws of Nature in Hobbes

Abstract

The text presents Strauss’s interpretation, according to which Hobbes would have derived natural right from natural law, and denies that this is an accurate interpretation of natural right in Hobbes. The text forwards the hypothesis that the predicate ‘law’ is conjugated with the predicate ‘equality’, while the predicate ‘right’ has a foundation in ‘freedom’. Freedom and equality do not seem to be predicates easily conjugable. The text point out for a clear choice of Hobbes for a system of equality. The law prevents the equality of death, and it is the path in which Leviathan needs to educate their subjects.