Democracy versus Absolutism. Theological-Political Contrast between Baruch Spinoza and Thomas Hobbes

Abstract

Outstanding coincidences and also important differences can be found when comparing the theories of Thomas Hobbes and Baruch de Spinoza, They initiate and reveal changes in political theory and practice that occur in a brief period of time but that, at the same time, are decisive. Ancestors of positivism, both shared ontological and methodological bases, which is often interpreted, for chronological reasons, as an influence of Hobbes on Spinoza. The differences between both are about the meaning of religion in relation to its role in politics; the relationships between divine revelation, natural law and reason, and the moral order; the natural law as the foundation of the legal-political system; the meaning and content of the social contract as the basis of the civil obligation. All these divergences lead to the most important of all, and that is that Hobbes is cast in an absolutism that ignores the rights of conscience, while Spinoza stands in defence of the internal forum.