Unity and multiplicity in the constitution of the body politic in Thomas Hobbes: a reading of the Elements of Law and Leviathan

The objective of this article is to discuss the relations between multitude and people for the constitution of the theory of representation proposed by Hobbes. To do so, the discussions are directed to the scope of the works Elements of Law and Leviathan through which the argumentative trajectory that dispenses the elements of plurality of wills to the scope of its unity is reconstituted. Therefore, an argumentative evolution concerning the idea of unity and representation between Hobbes' two works is evidenced. To this end, the acquisition of the unity of wills is discussed as an indispensable element for the establishment of the artificial person. As a consequence, it is shown that the theory of representation is conditioned to the constitution of a single will by which the premises of the reduction of the multiple to the one is established, whose consequence is the emergence of the concept of authorization, fundamental to the core of political representation.