The de facto Turn in Hobbes's Political Philosophy
This chapter considers the Review and Conclusion of Leviathan, a text which is commonly read as a retraction of Hobbes's royalism. In the earlier political writings, and perhaps in the body of Leviathan itself, there are signs of a preference for kingship over other forms of sovereignty. But in the Review and Conclusion Hobbes seems to endorse effective sovereignty whatever its form, including the form of the Protectorate that governed the England of 1651. The chapter sides with other commentators, including Quentin Skinner, in holding that Hobbes was from the first a supporter of de facto sovereignty, so that the supposed novelty of the position at the end of Leviathan is illusory. However, Hobbes is no mere run-of-the-mill de facto theorist. Hobbes had distinctive views about sovereignty by conquest. This puts Hoekstra at odds with Skinner.
Keywords: Hobbes, Skinner, Leviathan, royalism
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