Leviathan: or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil - Softcover

Hobbes, Thomas

9781539106975: Leviathan: or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1539106977 ISBN 13: 9781539106975

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

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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. An early edition of Leviathan was one of the over 60 books stolen from the National Library of Sweden in the 90s.

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