Skip to content
Vinony

Leviathan

Or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil

by Thomas Hobbes

Cover of Leviathan
Popularity 395

Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, from 1651, is one of the first and most influential arguments towards social contract. Written in the midst of the English Civil War, it concerns the structure of government and society and argues for strong central governance and the rule of an absolute sovereign as the way to avoid civil war and chaos.

Political scienceThe StateEarly works to 1800Sciences politiquesÉtatOuvrages avant 1800NonfictionPoliticsPhilosophyPolitieke filosofieScience politiqueopen_syllabus_project