Leviathan (Penguin Classics)
by Thomas Hobbes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas HobbesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1982-02-25
ISBN: 0140431950
Number of pages: 736
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Leviathan (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: The case for absolute government
Summary: 5 Stars
Modern political philosophy begins with Hobbes. Before Hobbes, writers for centuries had accepted the divine right of kings or did not think much about the origins of government. In Hobbes we find the concepts that have become standard in political thought: state of nature, social contract, absolute and limited government, civil disobedience, censorship, etc.
Hobbes supposes that the organized state is a choice. The alternative is the "state of nature", where there is both a "right of nature" and "laws of nature". Hobbes uses these terms in a highly individual way. The "right of nature" is "the Liberty each man hath, to use his own power...for the preservation of his own Life". In addition there are a number of "laws of nature". The first dictates that each person should seek to live with others in peace, and the second is that each person should only retain the right to as much liberty as he is willing to permit others. These (and other laws that follow from them) are found by reason and are utilitarian rather than prudential. Morality does not enter into it. Hobbes is simply saying that if men think about their situation, reason tells them that giving up their "rights of nature" in exchange for others doing likewise is the best means of self-preservation, even though it is contrary to human nature.
On human nature Hobbes is cynical. Reason that suggests advantages of co-operation, but this is outweighed by instinct. Men are fundamentally competitive and selfish. They are also roughly equal in ability so no one person or group can impose his will on others, and all can hope only to protect themselves from others. Life in the state of nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." Hence men are driven to create government via a pact with all others to give up their "right of nature" to a sovereign authority, which may be either an individual or an oligarchy (Hobbes prefers the former). Hobbes uses the concept of a "social contract". It is not an historical event but a logical device to describe the ongoing basis of consent to government. Hobbes' view of human nature is such that he allocates absolute power to the sovereign. Limited government is unworkable for men are too prone to division and selfishness, and "a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand." Hobbes was influenced by the divisive years before the English Civil War in which he lived. Among the ten rights Hobbes awards the sovereign the sixth is the power of censorship of opinions harmful to the state. Control of religion is not among the ten rights but Hobbes later argues that the sovereign must seek to restrain discussion of religion because it leads to conflict. Anybody seeking to preach a new religion should be treated as a criminal. Had Hobbes lived a century later religion would have played little or no part in his thinking because he was not himself a religious man, and he was concerned with religion only because because it played a major role in politics in his lifetime.
Are there circumstances in which people are justified in breaking the law, and is there an ultimate right of rebellion? The answer is to be found in the nature of the social contract. Men give up their natural rights to self-preservation to a sovereign to better achieve them. If a situation arises where the sovereign cannot ensure that self-preservation then society is dissolved. On civil disobedience Hobbes says that a criminal going to his execution has the "right" to resist. He is not, however, saying he has a "moral" right, only that it is proper for him to seek to assert his "natural" right, adding that the sovereign should indeed execute him. As for whether men have the right to resist conscription, Hobbes seems at first sight ambiguous because he declares that a man's right to protect his own life extends to refusing to die in military service if conscripted. However, further reading shows that the sovereign has the right to require people to risk their life if the existence of that state is threatened. On the other hand men should have the right to put a volunteer in their place (if one is available) and the sovereign does not have the right to demand that I lay down my life if the existence of the state is not threatened.
"Leviathan" is not likely to appeal to general readers. It is not an easy book, not helped by the fact that the English is that of a man born just 24 years after Shakespeare. It is read in full only by academics and the most enthusiastic (or masochistic?) of university students and others pursuing an interest in political philosophy. Those who prefer a version with modernized spelling should consider the edition edited by Gaskin.
Summary of Leviathan (Penguin Classics)
The Leviathan is the vast unity of the State. But how are unity, peace and security to be attained? Hobbes' answer is sovereignty, but the resurgence of interest today in Leviathan is due less to its answers than its methods. Hobbes sees politics as a science capable of the same axiomatic approach as geometry: he argues from first principles to human nature to politics. This book's appeal to the twentieth century lies not just in its elevation of politics to a science, but in its overriding concern for peace.Reference Books
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