Leviathan is an example of early social contract theory. Written by Thomas Hobbes during the English Civil War (1642-1651), Leviathan (which refers to the Biblical Leviathan), Hobbes argues for complete rule by a sovereign, arguing that civil war and the state of nature (war against all) could only be avoided by a powerful government, a monarchy. The book was published in 1651 and offended all parties, Royalists and Catholics, and supporters of monarchy mainly because his views differed from the Divine Right of Kings, for in Hobbes' monarchy system, the sovereign would rule by the consent of the people. The first part deals with politics and human nature. Good and evil are terms for peoples' appetites.In nature, Hobbes says:
In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor the use of commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
He goes on to explain all these laws of nature, and how the sovereign would represent the people even when they disagree with the sovereign.
This part of the book gets the political philosophy kicking, and you get a sense of Hobbes' language, and its been said that his writing style if of a particular humor, dry humor. I didn't get that from the reading, perhaps I missed that aspect. Looking back now, I can see what these book reviewers and bloggers are saying about it.
The second part deals with the Commonwealth, he explains how the sovereign has some twelve principal rights. Subjects can't change a form of government. The sovereign can't be put to death. To prescribe the rules of civil laws and property. To make war and peace. To reward with riches and honor or to punish with corporal or pecuniary punishment or ignominy. And more.
He rejects a separation of powers but talks in detail about Monarchy (being the best form of government), Oligarchy, and Democracy. He says Monarchy is the best form of government because it leads to peace and prosperity for the people. Oligarchies and Democracies are corrupt, and civil wars can occur. Important to note that Hobbes wrote this during the English Civil War while in exile in Paris.
In addition, Hobbes states that the sovereign has control over matters of religious doctrines, and should do so always.
Part three is Of A Christian Commonwealth. He discusses the Ten Commandments and makes so many quotes from scripture, this part of the book gets quite dense, albeit important as to the Ecclesiastical studies of the time.
He talks a lot about the Catholic Church, how the people can't obey both the Pope, and the sovereign, for a leviathan can't have two heads. Hobbes wants the preservation of a life, a world where people would be happy and live nice lives. He thinks that living in and not rebelling against a strong state is the best way to make this happen.
He states that the Pope and Clergy don't have the ultimate say over the people, that it is the sovereign Christian Kings are the supreme Pastors of their people. He talks about which scriptures we should trust, and why. The test is done by Hobbes examining scripture and saying its very trust worthy, and because the Bible is the most trust worthy when it comes to these things.
Part 4 is called The Kingdom Of Darknesse. Hobbes doesn't refer to Hell with this, but rather ignorance and the darkness in misinterpretation of scripture. There are four causes: Misinterpretation of Scripture, Demonology of heathen poets, Vain Philosophy (of the Greeks, especially Aristotle), and by mingling with both these, false or uncertain traditions, and feigned or uncertain history.
Hobbes finishes by inquiring who benefits from the errors he diagnoses:
- Cicero maketh honourable mention of one of the Cassii, a severe judge amongst the Romans, for a custom he had in criminal causes, when the testimony of the witnesses was not sufficient, to ask the accusers, cui bono; that is to say, what profit, honour, or other contentment the accused obtained or expected by the fact. For amongst presumptions, there is none that so evidently declareth the author as doth the benefit of the action.
Hobbes didn't seem to like the Church or Clergymen that much. In fact, when Leviathan was published it was publicly burned. People wanted to kill him because his ideas differed from the Godly Divine Right of Kings, instead saying the sovereign reigns only in the consent of the people, and has certain obligations under the social contract. We need the sovereign monarchy because without it we are left to the Laws of Nature, in which life is nasty, brutish and short.
This was quite a read for me, over some six-hundred pages long. I started it a long time ago, but it took me a while to finish reading it. The spelling loses consistency, (dry humor perhaps), and the professorial tone over the novel is also apparent. The old archaic English can take a while to get used to. I had to look up a lot of words online on the google dictionary (my favorite Hobbes words were corporeal and incorporeal) to make sense of certain sections, which made the reading process longer. The book is incredibly dense, and can take a lot of focus to make sense of. I can't say I got the complete understanding of this text, rather I had an astounding overview from Betrand Russell, and a hands-on approach with the original text. However, I got a lot out of it, from intellectual understanding, to pervasiveness argumentation, to English civil war ideology. Its one of those important texts, and it was an accomplishment to have read it.
There's also a certain rhythm and logical conclusiveness there too. This appears to my post-modern millennial mind to be a treatise on a particular kind of conservatism, something that relates to modern government especially now more than ever.
I already knew what Leviathan was about when I read Betrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, but reading the full text, I can see things straight from the source. Many of Hobbes' ideas have transcended time and are in use in today's governments.
Read this if you like philosophy
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