Assoluto ma non arbitrario? Potere legittimo e leggi di natura in Hobbes

This paper discusses the conceptual relationship between the notions of arbitrary and absolute power in Thomas Hobbes’ political theory. By looking at the role of Natural Law in a commonwealth, the author focuses on reason – intended as the pragmatic connection between means and ends – as an instrument that the sovereign might use for maintaining power and guarantying peace, conceived in terms of political order. The analysis of the Natural Laws pertaining to equality (VIII, IX, X) in De Cive and Leviathan are steps paving the way to a possible theory of what might be the sovereign’s right behaviour within Hobbes’ absolutistic conception of power.