Fear, Risk, and Security. Two Hobbesian Themes in Topical Issues

In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the attention paid to fear, risk, and security in both the specialized literature and public opinion. In order to situate these issues within the framework of Hobbes’s thought, two concepts will be examined: 1) the freedom-security dilemma, which is rooted in the question of how much freedom we are willing to give up in exchange for security; and 2) the idea that the sense of insecurity and mutual distrust inherent in the state of nature remains as a latent possibility even in the civil state, representing a dimension intrinsic to human nature and society. In this sense, my aim is to study the contemporary notion of risk in connection with the Hobbesian concept of insecurity (and the state of nature).