Reconstructing Metaphorical Meaning

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Prezbiterijanci v Behemothu

The Presbyterians, according to Thomas Hobbes in Behemoth, were one of the principal corrupters of the people; and the corruption of the people was a cause of the English Civil War. In fact, it was not the Presbyterians who were a cause of the Civil War, but certain puritan ministers, notably some closely connected with members of Parliament. The puritan ministers opposed the Laudian church and the concept of jure divino episcopacy but many would have accepted a form of episcopacy. Sermons by puritan ministers, often coordinated with MPs, contributed to the political instability of 1640 and after. The religious Presbyterians, who had been puritans, did emerged after fighting had broken out between royalist and parliamentary forces and after the opening of the Westminster Assembly of Divines in 1643.Hobbes je v Behemothu prezbiterijance postavil na sam vrh med tistimi, ki so skvarili ljudstvo, v čemer je videl enega od vzrokov angleške državljanske vojne. Dejansko eni od povzročiteljev državljanske vojne niso bili prezbiterijanci, temveč določeni puri-tanski duhovniki, zlasti nekateri, ki so bili tesno povezani s člani parlamenta. Puri-tanski duhovniki so nasprotovali laudovski cerkvi in škofovstvu jure divino, a mnogi med njimi so bili pripravljeni sprejeti kakšno drugo obliko episkopata. Puritanske pridige, pogosto koordinirane s člani parlamenta, so prispevale k politični nestabilnosti leta 1640 in pozneje. Verski prezbiterijanci, ki so pred tem bili puritanci, so se pojavili, ko je izbruhnil spopad med kraljevimi in parlamentarnimi silami in ko je 1643 začela z delom westminstrska sinoda

Social contract and beyond:Sociability, reciprocity and tax ethics

Paying taxes is a moral obligation owed by members of a community to their community. This obligation is determined by the legislature. Subsequently the tax authorities collect the amount of taxes citizens are due. Paying taxes might thus seem to become an exclusively legal affair - a legal obligation towards the state replacing a moral obligation towards society. What to think of this? In this chapter we delve into political and legal theory to find an answer to this question. Social contract theorists and their critics searched principles for a viable civil polity. Hobbes, Spinoza and Hume focused on political and legal authority and obedience grounding their theories in various pictures of human motivations and human sociability. These different starting points resulted in diverging conceptualisations of the relationships between ruler and subjects and between subjects and fellow subjects in terms of reciprocity. We will show the consequences thereof for the relationship between tax law and morality. Different conceptions of the reciprocal relationships involved may invite behaviour varying from minimalist compliance to a more liberal compliance with tax law. Taxpayers facing absolute sovereignty may thus adopt a legalistic attitude and be willing to exploit the letter of the law or loopholes rather than stay within the spirit of applicable tax legislation