Un aporte para la comprensión de Hobbes a partir de su diálogo entre un filósofo y un jurista

Resumen: Este artículo es un análisis del Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England, de Thomas Hobbes, a la luz de su controversia con Edward Coke, reconocido jurisconsulto inglés de su época y defensor del common law frente a las pretensiones del absolutismo monárquico de Jacobo I. El trabajo, de modo introductorio, ubica al Dialogue en el contexto histórico de la Inglaterra del siglo XVII y seguidamente analiza el Dialogue, deteniéndose en aquellos puntos que iluminan el debate de Hobbes con Coke y, por consiguiente, el enfrentamiento entre la prerrogativa real y el common law inglés. Por vía del camino del análisis del Dialogue y de dicho debate, el artículo intenta interpretar mejor el pensamiento de Hobbes en torno al derecho natural y a los límites a la autoridad política así como a contribuir al debate académico de si Hobbes era (i) positivista o iusnaturalista, por una parte, y (ii) liberal o absolutista, por otra. A través del estudio del Dialogue, habida cuenta de tratarse de una obra escrita por Hobbes en su madurez, el trabajo pretende hacer un aporte a la comprensión de sus ideas político-jurídicas.Abstract: This article is an analysis of the Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England of Thomas Hobbes in light of his controversy with Edward Coke, a well known English jurist of his times and defender of the common law against the royal absolutism of James I. By way of introduction, the article places the Dialogue within the historical context of England in the seventeenth century and then analyzes the Dialogue, focusing on those issues that shed light on the debate between Hobbes and Coke and, therefore, on the clash between the royal prerrogative and the English common law. By means of the analysis of the Dialogue and of such debate, the articles attempts to reach a better interpretation of the Hobbesian ideas regarding natural law and the limits to political authority as well as to contribute to the academic debate as to whether Hobbes was (i) positivist or iusnaturalist, on the one hand, and (ii) liberal or absolutist, on the other hand. Through the study of the Dialogue, taking into account that it is a work written by the mature Hobbes, the article endeavors to make a contribution to the understanding of the political and legal ideas of Hobbes