Leviathan (book)

The front page of Leviathan from 1651

Leviathan is a famous book by Thomas Hobbes. Its full name is Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. Hobbes wrote the book in 1651. The name of the book comes from a sea monster called "Leviathan" in the Book of Job (one of the books in the Old Testament of the Bible). In Leviathan, Hobbes writes about the structure of society and what makes a good government. It was a very early book on social contract theory. It influenced many other writers. He also wrote a version of the book in Latin in 1668.^[1]In this book Hobbes advocated for the power of government to avoid conflict with "the state of nature".

References

↑ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. "Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy"

Other websites

A copy of the complete book published in 1651
Media related to Leviathan at Wikimedia Commons
Works related to Leviathan at Wikisource

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[1] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. "Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy"

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