Leviathan
Ranked #4 in Political Theory, Ranked #5 in Political Philosophy — see more rankings.
Written during the chaos of the English Civil War, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan asks how, in a world of violence and horror, can we stop ourselves from descending into anarchy? Hobbes' case for a 'common-wealth' under a powerful sovereign - or 'Leviathan' - to enforce security and the rule of law, shocked his contemporaries, and his book was publicly burnt for sedition the moment it was published. But his penetrating work of political philosophy - now fully revised and with a new introduction for this edition - opened... more
Reviews and Recommendations
We've comprehensively compiled reviews of Leviathan from the world's leading experts.
Jonathan Wolff Written more than three-and-a-half centuries ago in the shadow of the English Civil War, Leviathan remains a profound and relevant study. (Source)
Michael Peel The idea of ‘the war of all against all’, what a man wins through strength is what he gets, has parallels in modern Nigeria. (Source)
Jonathan Sumption The best reason for reading Hobbes is that no other philosopher has ever used the English language to such powerful effect. It is a really remarkable feat of dialectic. You find yourself agreeing with him at each stage of the reasoning as he builds up his case then, quite suddenly, you find that you’ve arrived at a conclusion which seems intolerable. (Source)
Rankings by Category
Leviathan is ranked in the following categories:
- #60 in Civics
- #68 in Enlightenment
- #77 in International Relations
- #24 in Liberalism
- #32 in Philosopher
- #38 in Philosophy
- #15 in Political Science
- #54 in Politics
- #80 in Project Gutenberg
- #31 in Survey
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