“Comme un roi fait ses lois”. Verità eterne e assolutismo politico nel pensiero di Descartes (ricognizione storico-critica)

This paper critically examines the limited number political considerations present in the
works of Descartes and the very different ways in which these have been interpreted.
Descartes’ (implicit or explicit) adhesion to absolutism seems to depend on his theory of
eternal truths, according to which God establishes the principles of logic and the laws
of nature as a king establishes the laws in his kingdom. His conception of absolutism is
closer to some currents of medieval political theology than to the outlook of his contemporary
Hobbes.