Course:History 344 Nasty Families/Cultural Topics/Books/Leviathan
Leviathan is a classical work on preindustrial state-craft by Thomas Hobbes in 1651. The emphasis which Hobbes attempts to create throughout Leviathan is that of of a social contract theory, and the power/necessity of a strong sovereign in order to maintain a powerful state which is void of internal conflict. The relevance of this title comes from the fact that it was written during the coarse of the English Civil War, where due to a weak sovereign (Charles in this case) there was a social unrest, and by that virtue the social contract allowed the Parliamentarians to act to remove him for the good country[1].
Many scholars draw parallels between Leviathan and The Prince (Machiavelli) as both fostering the realist pursuit in political theory. In an age of religious wars, and the fall of a monarch it is easy to draw conceptual lines to the pessimism present throughout the realist mode of thought, and tie it back into the theory of Hobbes and the strong sovereign. It is important to view both Leviathan and Hobbes as a product of their time, with the fall of the weak monarchy and the rise of the Protectorate and Cromwell (who is unarguably a strong sovereign)[2].
As both a product of his time, and a pioneer in political thought one must admire the liberal foundations also present within the book, as it stresses the rights of the individual. This is why Hobbes is considered an early hero of liberalism[3].
There also remains evidence that at the time of publication Hobbes was not present in England at the time of publication, but was instead in France, having to hire a publisher by distance to have the book printed in England.