Leviathan

Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, is Thomas Hobbes’s masterwork of political thought, written during the turbulence of the English Civil War. Hobbes argues that in the absence of political authority, human life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” To avoid such a state of nature, individuals collectively agree to surrender certain freedoms to a sovereign power — the “Leviathan” — in exchange for order and protection. Combining philosophy, theology, and political theory, Hobbes’s work remains a central text in debates on authority, liberty, and the role of the state.