Most Popular Books by Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan is an argument for obedience to authority grounded in an analysis of human nature and arguably the greatest piece of political philosophy written in the English language.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher considered one of the founders of modern political philosophy. His most famous work is Leviathan (1651), where he laid the foundations of contractualist theory, which had a significant influence on the development of Western political philosophy. Leviathan, as it is commonly known, is undoubtedly the most important and groundbreaking work of the 17th-century English philosopher, politician, and thinker Thomas Hobbes. Referencing and writing with splendid mastery, the author invokes the most feared biblical monster to explain and justify the existence of an absolutist State that subjugates its citizens. Written in 1651, his work has been a great inspiration in political sciences and, paradoxically, in the evolution of social law.

Part of the “Longman Library of Primary Sources in Philosophy,” this edition of Hobbes''s Leviathan is framed by a pedagogical structure designed to make this important work of philosophy more accessible and meaningful for undergraduates.

De Cive (On the Citizen) is the first full exposition of the political thought of Thomas Hobbes, the greatest English political philosopher of all time. Professors Tuck and Silverthorne have undertaken the first complete translation since 1651, a rendition long thought (in error) to be at least sanctioned by Hobbes himself. On the Citizen is written in a clear, straightforward, expository style, and in many ways offers students a more digestible account of Hobbes''s political thought than the Leviathan itself. This new translation is both accurate and accessible, and is itself a significant scholarly event: it is accompanied by a full glossary of Latin terms, a chronology, bibliography, and an expository introduction. Throughout the editors have emphasised consistency in the translation and usage of Hobbes''s basic conceptual vocabulary, respecting Hobbes''s own concern for accurate definition of terms.

Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan is the greatest work of political philosophy in English and the first great work of philosophy in English. Beginning with premises that were sometimes controversial, such as that every human action is caused by the agent’s desire for his own good, Hobbes derived shocking conclusions, such as that the civil government enjoys absolute control over its citizens and that the sovereign has the right to determine which religion is to be practiced in a commonwealth. Hobbes’s contemporaries recognized the power of arguments in Leviathan and many of them wrote responses to it; selections by John Bramhall, Robert Filmer, Edward Hyde, George Lawson, William Lucy, Samuel Pufendorf, and Thomas Tenison are included in this edition. This revised Broadview Edition of Hobbes’s classic work of political philosophy includes the full text of Part I (Of Man), Part II (Of Commonwealth), and the Review and Conclusion. The appendices, which set the work in its historical context, include a rich selection of contemporary responses to Leviathan. Also included are an introduction, explanatory notes, and a chronology of Hobbes’s life.

Behemoth, or The Long Parliament is essential to any reader interested in the historical context of the thought of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). In De Cive (1642) and Leviathan (1651), the great political philosopher had developed an analytical framework for discussing sedition, rebellion, and the breakdown of authority. Behemoth, completed around 1668 and not published until after Hobbe''s death, represents the systematic application of this framework to the English Civil War. In his insightful and substantial Introduction, Stephen Holmes examines the major themes and implications of Behemoth in Hobbes''s system of thought. Holmes notes that a fresh consideration of Behemoth dispels persistent misreadings of Hobbes, including the idea that man is motivated solely by a desire for self-preservation. Behemoth, which is cast as a series of dialogues between a teacher and his pupil, locates the principal cause of the Civil War less in economic interests than in the stubborn irrationality of key actors. It also shows more vividly than any of Hobbe''s other works the importance of religion in his theories of human nature and behavior.

This work was originally published in 1650 as two separate books, Human nature, and De corpore politico. Human nature contained the first 13 chapters, De Corpore politico contained chapters 14 thru 19 of the first work, and chapters 20 thru 29. The present edition considers chapters 1 thru 19 as part 1, Human nature, and chapters 20 thru 29 as part 2, De corpore politico.

"Leviathan" is a work of political philosophy. Written Thomas Hobbes during a time of civil war, it argues that sovereign rule is the most stable form of government. An early proponent of social contract...

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Leviathan ranks as a classic work on statecraft comparable to Machiavelli''s The Prince. It concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is one of the most influential examples of social contract theory. Written during the English Civil War, Leviathan argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign.

This volume in the Clarendon Edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes contains A dialogue between a philosopher and a student, of the common laws of England, edited by Alan Cromartie, supplemented by the important fragment on the issue of regal succession, ''Questions relative to Hereditary Right'', discovered and edited by Quentin Skinner.The former work is the last of Hobbes''s major political writings. As a critique of common law by a great philosopher, it should be essential reading for anybody interested in English political thought or legal theory. Although it was written when Hobbes was at least eighty, it is a lively piece of work that goes beyond a recapitulation of earlier Hobbesian doctrines, not least in applying his central ideas to the details of the English constitution. This edition supplies the extensiveannotation on matters of legal and historical detail that is required by non-specialist readers; it also assists students by offering cross-references to other treatises. Cromartie''s introduction is an authoritative account of seventeenth-century thinking about the common law and of Hobbes''s shiftingattitudes towards it. It has often been suspected that the book was motivated by fear of being burned for heresy. Cromartie disentangles the complex evidence (scattered across a number of late works) that documents this fear''s development, and shows why the philosopher''s acute anxieties eventually led him to write a legal treatise. In clarifying these questions, the edition casts fresh light upon his attitude to law and sovereignty.The second piece takes the form of a question put to Hobbes about the right of succession under hereditary monarchies, together with Hobbes''s response. The question is in the handwriting of the fourth Earl of Devonshire, the son of the third Earl, whom Hobbes had tutored in the 1630s. He asks Hobbes whether an heir can be excluded if he is incapable of protecting his prospective subjects. The question of ''exclusion'' became the most burning issue in English politics in the course of 1679,when a bill to exclude the future James II was introduced into the House of Commons. Hobbes answers with a robust defence of hereditary right, in the course of which he also makes some important general observations about the concept of a right. The manuscript is also of special interest as itconstitutes Hobbes''s last word on politics. It was almost certainly written in the summer of 1679, less than six months before Hobbes''s death.

First Published in 1969. This collection of publications by Thomas Hobbes discusses the Civil Wars, written in the 1600s, deals in the controversial with a complete review of the Great Rebellion''s events. Hobbes found attention from their first systematic political work, an early statement of his doctrines. These political, often philosophical works also track the deviation in his work as his devotion to religion increases.

Complete digitally restored reprint (facsimile) of the original edition of 1904 (Cambridge English Classics) with excellent resolution and outstanding readability. Edited by Alfred Rayney Waller (1867-1922).