Article
Polity (2005) 37, 130–148. doi:10.1057/palgrave.polity.2300004
The Tolerant Leviathan: Hobbes and the Paradox of Liberalism
J. Judd Owen is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Emory University and was a fellow with the Center on Religion and Democracy at the University of Virginia in 2003–2004. He is the author of Religion and the Demise of Liberal Rationalism (Chicago, 2001) and is currently writing a book entitled Religious Apathy and the Democratic Citizen. He can be reached by e-mail at: jjowen@emory.edu.
J Judd Owen1
1Emory University
Abstract
For many contemporary liberals, toleration has become liberalism's defining characteristic, with individual rights being maintained more or less unconditionally. Because Hobbes stressed so emphatically the conditional character of nearly all individual rights and their dependence on sovereign authority, he is typically viewed by liberals as an absolutist who was indifferent, if not hostile, to toleration. This typical view, however, neglects liberalism's own absolutism, which necessarily supports and qualifies toleration. Hobbes's liberalism is paradoxical, but the paradox of Hobbes's liberalism not only reflects, but also helps to clarify, the paradox of liberalism per se.
Keywords:
Hobbes, toleration, liberalism
