Most Popular Books by Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Influenced by the English Civil War, Hobbes wrote that chaos or civil war-situations identified with a state of nature and the famous motto Bellum omnium contra omnes ("the war of all against all")-could only be averted by strong central government. He thus denied any right of rebellion toward the social contract, which would be later added by John Locke and conserved by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (However, Hobbes did discuss the possible dissolution of the State. Since the social contract was made to institute a state that would provide for the "peace and defense" of the people, the contract would become void as soon as the government no longer protected its citizens. By virtue of this fact, man would automatically return to the state of nature until a new contract is made).

Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan is the greatest work of political philosophy in English and the first great work of philosophy in English. Beginning with premises that were sometimes controversial, such as that every human action is caused by the agent’s desire for his own good, Hobbes derived shocking conclusions, such as that the civil government enjoys absolute control over its citizens and that the sovereign has the right to determine which religion is to be practiced in a commonwealth. Hobbes’s contemporaries recognized the power of arguments in Leviathan and many of them wrote responses to it; selections by John Bramhall, Robert Filmer, Edward Hyde, George Lawson, William Lucy, Samuel Pufendorf, and Thomas Tenison are included in this edition. This revised Broadview Edition of Hobbes’s classic work of political philosophy includes the full text of Part I (Of Man), Part II (Of Commonwealth), and the Review and Conclusion. The appendices, which set the work in its historical context, include a rich selection of contemporary responses to Leviathan. Also included are an introduction, explanatory notes, and a chronology of Hobbes’s life.

Leviathan 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 (revised Latin edition 1668). 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.

Leviathan ranks as a classic work on statecraft comparable to Machiavelli''s The Prince. It concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is one of the most influential examples of social contract theory.

De Cive (On the Citizen) is the first full exposition of the political thought of Thomas Hobbes, the greatest English political philosopher of all time. Professors Tuck and Silverthorne have undertaken the first complete translation since 1651, a rendition long thought (in error) to be at least sanctioned by Hobbes himself. On the Citizen is written in a clear, straightforward, expository style, offering students a more digestible account of Hobbes'' political thought than even Leviathan itself. This new translation is itself a very significant scholarly event.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher considered one of the founders of modern political philosophy. His most famous work is Leviathan (1651), where he laid the foundations of contractualist theory, which had a significant influence on the development of Western political philosophy. Leviathan, as it is commonly known, is undoubtedly the most important and groundbreaking work of the 17th-century English philosopher, politician, and thinker Thomas Hobbes. Referencing and writing with splendid mastery, the author invokes the most feared biblical monster to explain and justify the existence of an absolutist State that subjugates its citizens. Written in 1651, his work has been a great inspiration in political sciences and, paradoxically, in the evolution of social law.

Behemoth, or The Long Parliament is essential to any reader interested in the historical context of the thought of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). In De Cive (1642) and Leviathan (1651), the great political philosopher had developed an analytical framework for discussing sedition, rebellion, and the breakdown of authority. Behemoth, completed around 1668 and not published until after Hobbe''s death, represents the systematic application of this framework to the English Civil War. In his insightful and substantial Introduction, Stephen Holmes examines the major themes and implications of Behemoth in Hobbes''s system of thought. Holmes notes that a fresh consideration of Behemoth dispels persistent misreadings of Hobbes, including the idea that man is motivated solely by a desire for self-preservation. Behemoth, which is cast as a series of dialogues between a teacher and his pupil, locates the principal cause of the Civil War less in economic interests than in the stubborn irrationality of key actors. It also shows more vividly than any of Hobbe''s other works the importance of religion in his theories of human nature and behavior.

The discourses provide the strongest evidence to date for the profound influences of Bacon and Machiavelli on the young Hobbes, and they add a new dimension to the much-debated impact of the scientific method on his thought. These texts, "Upon the Beginning of Tacitus," "Of Rome," and "Of Laws," provide direct access to the intellectual concerns and early influences and questions that eventually led Hobbes to the fully formed philosophy of Leviathan. In the discourses, Hobbes addresses the problem of identifying secular sources of political power that might provide security and stability in a world of constant flux, and works to free himself from some of the traditional foundations of political order.