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Leviathan
9Thomas Hobbes
Hobbes built modern political philosophy from a single brutal premise — life without government is nasty, brutish, and short, and the state exists to prevent it.
GBM Assessment (Score: 9/10)
Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan is the foundation of modern political philosophy, articulating the social contract theory that would shape all subsequent thinking about the relationship between the individual and the state. His famous description of life in the state of nature as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" remains a memorable formulations in the history of political thought.
The work was composed during the upheaval of the English Civil War, Leviathan argues for absolute sovereignty as the only guarantee against the chaos of the natural condition. The work laid the foundation of social contract theory, influencing John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the entire tradition of modern political philosophy.
Revolution & Reason, c. 1651-1689
England beheads a king (1649). Hobbes writes Leviathan. Molière dominates the French stage under Louis XIV — Tartuffe is banned, Dom Juan scandalizes, The Misanthrope perfects comedy. Milton writes Paradise Lost blind and in disgrace. Pascal wages his wager with God. Spinoza constructs his Ethics. Louis XIV builds Versailles. England's Glorious Revolution produces Locke's blueprint for liberal democracy. Newton publishes his Principia (1687). The Scientific Revolution transforms understanding of nature.
Awards & Adaptations
Foundation of social contract. Core in political science.
Recommended Edition
First edition (1651)
