Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes, 1651
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Leviathan argues that people without a common power live in a war of everyone against everyone, where life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. To escape it they agree to hand their right of self-government to a single sovereign, who must be strong and undivided. Hobbes describes the commonwealth as an artificial man and sets out the sovereign's rights, along with the duty of subjects. Later parts apply the argument to Christian religion and attack what he calls the kingdom of darkness, meaning churches that rival the state's authority.
Where it happens
Through time
- 1588Thomas Hobbes is born in Westport, Wiltshire.3
- 1642The English Civil War begins; Hobbes publishes De Cive the same year.13
- 1651Leviathan is published, with a manuscript copy made for Charles II.1
- 1668A revised Latin edition appears.1
- 1679Hobbes dies.3
- 2012Noel Malcolm's critical edition of the English and Latin texts is published by Oxford University Press.1
Who is in it, and behind it
Thomas Hobbes author
English philosopher (1588-1679) who wrote the book during the English Civil War.13
Abraham Bosse printer
Parisian etcher who made the frontispiece after lengthy discussion with Hobbes.1
Charles II patron
A manuscript copy of Leviathan was made for him in 1651.1
Brian Duppa subject
Early reader who wrote that the book mixed things said so well he could embrace them with things wild and unchristian.1
Alexander Ross subject
Early critic who found the book to contain much gold and much dross.1
What it is about
Social contract and absolute sovereign
People escape the war of all against all by authorising one sovereign to govern them.1
The state of nature
Without a visible power to keep them in awe, men live in constant fear and danger of violent death.1
The state as an artificial man
The commonwealth is built like a machine or body, with sovereignty as its artificial soul.1
Church under the state
Hobbes wants spiritual and secular power united in the sovereign, which the frontispiece's sword and crosier express.1
Words and definitions
Hobbes opens his account of the mind by stressing that true knowledge starts from examining definitions.1
In its own words
Leviathan” called a “Commonwealth,” or “State,” in Latin Civitas , which is but an artificial man; though of greater stature and strength than the natural, for whose protection and defence it was intended; and in which the “sovereignty” is an artificial “soul,” as giving life and motion to the whole body; the “magistrates,” and
a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death.
Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war, as is of every man, against every man.
continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
I authorize and give up my right of governing myself, to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up thy right to him, and authorize all his actions in like manner.”
The right of nature, whereby God reigneth over men, and punisheth those that break His laws, is to be derived not from His creating them, as if He required obedience as of gratitude for His benefits, but from His “irresistible power.”
The shape of the book
54 chapters, 207,322 words. Point at a bar.
How it came to be here
Hobbes wrote Leviathan during the English Civil War and published it in 1651, with a revised Latin edition in 1668. The title comes from the sea monster in the Book of Job, and the frontispiece, etched by the Parisian Abraham Bosse after discussion with Hobbes, shows a crowned giant built from hundreds of tiny people holding a sword and a crosier. Contemporaries argued fiercely over the book; some called it excellent in parts and dangerous in others, and critics later painted it as universally rejected. It is a founding text of social contract theory.
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Sources
Text: PG 3207. CC0 (Standard Ebooks).