Leviathan

A little about the book

Thomas Hobbes begins with human beings rather than kings: how they perceive, speak, desire, fear, and reason about the world. From those foundations he develops a difficult question about living together. If people are vulnerable, suspicious, and capable of competing claims, what can give their agreements enough force to produce security? The answer leads toward the construction of a common political authority, with consequences for the duties of both rulers and subjects.

Leviathan combines philosophy, political argument, and extended discussion of religion, so its scope is wider than a simple defense of strong government. Hobbes asks readers to follow definitions carefully and to consider how collective institutions are made from individual actions and commitments. Written in the shadow of civil conflict, the work treats peace as something requiring explanation rather than as society’s natural condition. Its challenging power comes from the connection between ordinary human motives and the enormous authority that Hobbes believes those motives make necessary for a durable commonwealth.

Things You May Not Know About Leviathan

• An image supplies the title. The biblical name Leviathan becomes a figure for a commonwealth understood as an artificial person made through human agreement.
• Four major parts. The work is divided into sections on human beings, the commonwealth, a Christian commonwealth, and what Hobbes calls the kingdom of darkness.
• Published in a divided century. The English text appeared in 1651, after the upheavals of the English Civil Wars and the execution of Charles I.
• Language is political groundwork. Hobbes spends significant time on speech, definitions, and reasoning before reaching the chapters most directly concerned with sovereign power.
• The body metaphor is sustained. The introduction compares parts of the state with features of a living person, making the artificial-body image more than a title-page decoration.