Hobbes and the meaning of Religion: a study in methodology

Resumo

Hobbes's methodological concern about the correct use of speech in science leads to a problem in Philosophy of Religion about how modern concepts can obfuscate “ancient” realities if we do not use them with caution. What we currently call by the name “religion” used to have an unbreakable link with morality, manners, and even laws, so that it is a kind of naivety to consider it as mere superstition and spiritual belief. It was only after the modern and Christian rupture between “the political world” and “the spiritual world” that the word “religion” began to be used as such. In this paper, I discuss the concept of religion regarding Hobbes' singular way of thinking about human nature and its particularity called “Seed of Religion”.