Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes
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Leviathan
or The Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil

Author: Thomas Hobbes

Narrator: James Adams

Unabridged: 23 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/21/2011

Categories: Nonfiction, Philosophy

Synopsis

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. Written during the turmoil of the English Civil War, Leviathan was, in Hobbes lifetime, publicly burnt and even condemned in Parliament as one of the causes of the Great Fire of London in 1666. Its current appeal lies not just in its elevation of politics to a science, but in its overriding concern for peace, its systematic analysis of power, and its convincing apologia for the thenemergent market society in which we still live.

About Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was born in Wiltshire, England. Educated at Oxford, where he studied classics, he later became tutor to the son of William Cavendish, Baron of Hardwick. His first published work was a translation of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War in 1628. An interest in science and philosophy soon developed, heightened by extended travels in Europe. This led to Leviathan—the crowning achievement of his political science. It was so influential that it came under widespread attack and was in danger of condemnation by the House of Commons. Hobbes perforce lived quietly and published little more on political matters. At the age of eighty-four, he composed an autobiography in Latin verse and within the next three years translated the whole of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Yasiru

Since some reviewers here seem to rate this work unfairly low because of their disagreements, ignoring both the importance of Leviathan and the basic power of the argument Hobbes forwards in it, I'll refer a couple of good, measured reviews with history and backdrop also found here- [URL not allowed]......more

Goodreads review by امیر

هدفِ اصلی کتاب پاسخ به این پرسش است: چرا به دولت نیاز داریم؟ هابز برای انسان حقی را تعریف می‌کند به عنوانِ «حقِ طبیعی». حقِ طبیعی یعنی حقِ حفظِ منافع که می‌تواند منجر به قدرت‌طلبی و تجاوز به حقوقِ دیگران شود. در نتیجه هابز «وضعِ طبیعی» را وضعِ «جنگ همه علیه همه» می‌داند. و از اینجا به لزوم بکارگیریِ......more

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