Abstract:

In general terms, Thomas Hobbes is considered as one of the important theorist of the modern state in the seventeeth century, as he grounds the state, which was tried to be grounded with reference to natura in Ancient times and to God in the Middle Ages, with the notion of a conratct based on consent between people. Just as Descartes is considered the founder of modern philosophy by placing the individual at the center of his thought as an epistemic subject, in our opinion Hobbes can also be considered among the founders of the modern state because he placed the notion of a contract based on the consent of the parties at the foundation of the state. However, one of the most important problems of this state, which we describe as modern, perhaps due to the legacy it inherited from the Middle Ages, is what and how the relationship between religion and the state should be. Hobbes aims to gather religious power and political power under a single roof and, so to speak, to dissolve religious power within the political whole, both in accordance with the materialist ontology he advocates and in order to find a solution to the religious conflicts in the society he lives in. Such an approach naturally solves the conflict between religion and the state, but it also brings with it a number of problems. In our article, we aim to first reveal Hobbes’ religion-state design which we describe, and then make a critical evaluation by pointing out the problems in question.