Abstract

This text will analyze two political fictions which are at the heart of the two great figures that for centuries articulated and operated the western idea of political «union» or civil «community». The first fiction, of a theological-political character, goes back to St. Paul and is organized around the medieval notion of the «mystical body of Christ» and, by extension, the «mystical body of the Church». It is inseparable from a conception of «political body» that takes the «incarnation» of Christ as a figure, and «mediation», «incorporation» and «reciprocal inclusion» as operating concepts. The second fiction, of a purely juridical character, and clear Hobbesian influence, is structured around the modern notion of «person» and distances itself, as much as it can, from the medieval understanding of «political body» to privilege instead the juridical «personification» understood as political «representation». In fact, in Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, the Commonwealth is no longer the result of the «incarnation» or «mediation» of a political body, but is instead the result of the representation of a «political person», or «artificial person», a representation that «disincarnates» and «disembodies» the «community». In this way, if medieval «mediation» is corresponded, grosso modo, by a «body» or an «embodiment», modern «representation» is corresponded by a «person» or a «personification». This second fiction, to which Thomas Hobbes attributes a terrifying figure and an irresistible power, substitutes «mediation» for «representation», «incarnation» for «personification», in short, it substitutes the theological for the juridical.