Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and CivilLeviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil—commonly referred to as Leviathan—is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and published in 1651. Its name derives from the biblical Leviathan. The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. Leviathan ranks as a classic western work on statecraft comparable to Machiavelli's The Prince. Written during the English Civil War (1642–1651), Leviathan argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Hobbes wrote that civil war and the brute situation of a state of nature ("the war of all against all") could only be avoided by strong, undivided government. An early edition of Leviathan was one of the over 60 books stolen from the National Library of Sweden in the 90s. |
Contents
Section 20 | |
Section 21 | |
Section 22 | |
Section 23 | |
Section 24 | |
Section 25 | |
Section 26 | |
Section 27 | |
Section 9 | |
Section 10 | |
Section 11 | |
Section 12 | |
Section 13 | |
Section 14 | |
Section 15 | |
Section 16 | |
Section 17 | |
Section 18 | |
Section 19 | |
Section 28 | |
Section 29 | |
Section 30 | |
Section 31 | |
Section 32 | |
Section 33 | |
Section 34 | |
Section 35 | |
Section 36 | |
Section 37 | |
Section 38 | |
Other editions - View all
Leviathan; Or, the Matter, Forme and Power of Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall ... Thomas Hobbes No preview available - 2015 |
Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme and Power of Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall ... Thomas Hobbes No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
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