Carlos Isler Soto

Thomas Hobbes’s theory of social contract has received much attention and commentary from scholars. Less attention has been given to his theory of contract as a theory of private law contracts. But it has not been noted by scholars that underlying Hobbes’s treatment of social and private law contracts there is a theory of an a priori notion of contract, that abstracts from any instance of contract, including the social contract, and that therefore claims a universality social and private contracts theories don’t do. In this paper we expose Hobbes’s theory of an a priori notion of contract that serves to organize sense experience, and we show how Hobbes justifies the tenets of that theory.

resumen Thomas Hobbes es célebre por su obra en filosofía política. Sin embargo, aunque menos conocida, existe una importante reflexión teológica hobbesiana, que se ubi-ca dentro del marco de la tradición protestante. En el presente artículo exponemos un importante aspecto de tal reflexión: su rechazo a lo que considera la inserción de elementos extraños, provenientes de la cultura griega y añadidos por la teología esco-lástica, en el simple mensaje original de Cristo. Parte importante de tal añadido sería la filosofía de Aristóteles, asumida por los teólogos católicos para justificar artículos de fe como la transubstanciación o la existencia del purgatorio. Mostramos cómo tal rechazo se encuentra determinado por su asunción de una ontología materialista y una teoría del conocimiento sensista, y terminamos evidenciando cómo tal rechazo hobbesiano es compatible con la noción hobbesiana de Providencia. Abstract Thomas hobbes is widely known due to his work on political philosophy. however, although less known, there is an important hobbesian theological reflection, itself located within the protestant tradition. In this paper, we expose an important aspect of that reflection: his rejection of what he considers to be elements alien to the Christian faith, taken from Greek culture and added by scholastic theology to the simple original Christian message. An important part of that addition would be Aristotle's philosophy, assumed by Catholic theologians in order to explain articles of faith such