An analysis of Leviathan as metaphor and representation

Abstract

This short article is divided in four sections. In the first section, I make reference to excerpts from Monica Vieira’s book The elements of representation in Hobbes. By doing that, I introduce the main theme of this article: the figure of Leviathan as a metaphor and representation. I then highlight the importance of the aesthetic element in Hobbes’ theory of representation, and mention excerpts in which Vieira examines the metaphor and its use in Hobbes. I conclude this first section with a quote which is a sort of an invitation to a close inspection of Leviathan as a metaphor. In sections 2 and 3, I accept this invitation and proceed to an inspection of the metaphor. In section 2, I reconstruct it as it was presented by Hobbes in the first chapter of his book (Leviathan), while also trying to bring to light the implicit meanings suggested by Hobbes’ text. In section 3, I continue the inspection by exploring the similitude between Leviathan and religion. Based on an essay written by Carlo Ginzburg, I try to highlight the importance of “fear” as a passion in the account of both the religious and the political phenomena. In the fourth and concluding section, I briefly recapitulate the main threads of the article.