Constructing Representation: A Study On Hobbes’s Theory Of Political Representation

As one of the most important thinkers in the history of Western thought,Thomas Hobbes has made pioneering achievements in many fields such as philosophy,politics,ethics and so on.However,his theory of political representation has been neglected in the past few hundred years.It was not until Hannah Pitkin published the concept of representation in the 1960 s that Hobbes’ political representation theory was noticed by the academic circles.Unfortunately,although foreign academic circles have done some research on Hobbes’ political representation theory in the past few decades,few people pay attention to the domestic research on Hobbes’ political representation theory.In fact,Hobbes’ natural law,social contract theory and state theory are all built with political representation as a bridge.Without the introduction of his political representation theory,Hobbes’ s "Leviathan" building will be difficult to build.Therefore,Hobbes’ theory of political representation plays an important role in Leviathan.However,in general research,Hobbes’ political representation theory is simply attributed to Pitkin’s "authorized" representation theory.This paper holds that Hobbes’ theory of political representation has rich connotation,and its content can be seen in the four parts of Hobbes’ Leviathan.In order to more fully and effectively explain the rich connotation of Hobbes’ political representation theory,this paper takes the era background of Hobbes’ political representation theory as the starting point to explore the purpose of Hobbes’ political representation theory.Then,by introducing the disputes about Hobbes’ political representation theory in academic circles,we can think about the value of Hobbes’ political representation theory.This paper divides Hobbes’ political representation theory into four parts according to the different fields involved in Leviathan:aesthetic representation,dramatic representation,legal representative and theological representation.This paper analyzes the orientation of Hobbes’ political representation theory from different levels through multiple dimensions,so as to reveal the rich connotation of Hobbes’ political representation theory from multiple dimensions.Hobbes’ political representative theory is unique in the thought of political representative,which provides a basic framework for the core representative system of Western democracy.Although there are many disputes about his political representative,his political representative theory has pioneering value for the construction of his theory and the development of his representative thought.