The Arguments Of Thomas Hobbes Leviathan

In this essay, I shall try to summarize the main arguments of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan while commenting on how the context of the time influenced the work and how it should be understood under this light. Furthermore, I will highlight how the various reactions of subsequent decades came about and where they were provoked from. The central thesis of Leviathan is the idea that in order for human society to function without widespread conflict there is a need for totalitarian rule in the form of a Leviathan, necessitated by man’s continual state of fear in a state of nature caused by limited knowledge of the outside world and therefore the intentions of other humans. Hobbes proposes that the only right we as humans have is the right to self-preservation. Adding to this, the focus that Hobbes clearly had on peace, first initiated by his readings of Thucydides, he sets out an argument for why a totalitarian rule that safeguards individuals is the best way to secure liberty and peace. Published in 1651, towards the end of the English Civil War, Hobbes clearly was attempting to spell out why the Leviathan was the most effective governmental system for achieving peace. While many have accused Leviathan of being a totalitarian manifesto, many liberal and libertarian thoughts sprung from Hobbes’ ideas such as the right of the individual versus that of a collective body. The basis of the entire thesis, is Hobbes’ claim that in a state
There can be no doubt that, Leviathan, built on the principles put forward by Grotius, principally that all men have the right to preserve themselves and they should not be blamed for acting on this principle. Since, as already demonstrated, Hobbes dismissed the field of ethics, he was left with just idea that the only right we have is to protect ourselves at all costs and that whatever was necessary for self-preservation must be morally