Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth
Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly called Leviathan, is a
book written by Thomas Hobbes which was published in 1651. It is titled after
the biblical Leviathan. The book concerns the structure of society and
legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most
influential examples of social contract theory. The publisher was Andrew Crooke,
partner in Andrew Crooke and William Cooke.
In the book, Thomas Hobbes argues for a social contract and rule by an
absolute sovereign. Hobbes wrote that chaos or civil war — situations identified
with a state of nature and the famous motto Bellum omnium contra omnes
("the war of all against all") — could only be averted by strong central
government. He thus denied any right of rebellion toward the social contract,
which would be later added by John Locke and conserved by Jean-Jacques
Rousseau.
— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
