Hobbes (1588-1679)

Bio

"Thomas Hobbes was a noted English political philosopher, most
famous for his book Leviathan (1651).

"In Leviathan, Hobbes set out his doctrine of modern natural right as the
foundation of societies and legitimate governments. In the natural
condition of mankind, while some men may be stronger or more
intelligent than others, none are so strong and smart as to be beyond a
fear of violent death. When threatened with death, man in his natural state
cannot help but defend himself in any way possible. Self-defense against
violent death is Hobbes' highest human necessity, and rights are borne of
necessity. In the state of nature, then, each of us has a right to everything
in the world. Due to the scarcity of things in the world, there is a constant,
and rights-based, 'war of all against all' (bellum omnium contra omnes).
Life in the state of nature is 'solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short' (xiii).

"But war isn't in man's interest. He has a self-interested and materialistic
desire to end war -- 'the passions that incline men to peace are fear of
death, desire of such things as as are necessary to commodious living,
and a hope by their industry to obtain them' (xiii, 14). He forms peaceful
societies by entering into a social contract. According to Hobbes, society
is a population beneath an authority, to whom all individuals in that
society surrender just enough of their natural right for the authority to be
able to ensure internal peace and a common defense. This benevolent
sovereign, whether monarch or administrative state, should be a
Leviathan, an absolute authority. Law, for Hobbes, is the enforcement of
contracts. The political theory of Leviathan varies little from that set out in
two earlier works, The Elements of Law and De Cive (On The Citizen)."


(Excerpts, as well as portrait, taken from the Wikipedia article on Hobbes. Click here
for complete article.)




Works

Leviathan