Hobbes, who was born on this day, 5 April, in 1588, had seen such a society at first hand. He believed that life, free from government – in the 'state of nature', as he put – is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Yet, without government, what would our lives be like? Thomas Hobbes, one of the founders of modern political philosophy, had a fairly good idea. Today, many view governments suspiciously, and question the good that they provide. The political philosopher, born 430 years ago today, put a face to the-then novel theory of the ‘body politic’

As such, Hobbes meticulously defines and explains every term used in Leviathan in an effort to elevate his own philosophy to that of geometry or mathematics, thereby making it irrefutable.Detail from the frontispiece for Leviathan (1651) by Thomas Hobbes, etching by Abraham Bosse.Īs reproduced in Body of Art How Hobbes first pictured the “monster” of good government In Hobbes’s opinion, previous philosophers, with the exception of those espousing geometry and mathematics, do not begin their philosophies with established terms and definitions. Hobbes offers Leviathan as a bit of sound philosophy to counteract the false philosophies of those who came before him. Until then, Hobbes maintains, a subject’s loyalties lie with their earthly sovereign, and there is no additional contract or covenant that can usurp that power. While God has absolute power, his dominion over humankind does not begin until Christ’s second coming and the creation of God’s Kingdome through a covenant with the people. The power of the sovereign is not to be confused with the power of God, who is the spiritual power over all humankind. Hobbes argues that once a covenant is entered, it can never be forfeited, and the subjects of a common-wealth are obligated to obey their sovereign in all things. To escape the constant fear and threat of violent death that is nature, people abandoned nature and moved into common-wealths to establish a common power and ensure their safety and contentment. Hobbes moves on to the state of human beings in nature, which is synonymous with a state of war. Hobbes makes many arguments in Leviathan, but he begins by discrediting Aristotle and the philosophies of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Through Leviathan, Hobbes focuses on the state of humankind in nature, the creation of covenants and common-wealths, the nature of a sovereign’s power in relation to God’s power, and the misinterpretation of Holy Scripture and previous philosophies that has led Christianity to the “Kingdome of Darkness” and away from God.

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher from the 17th century, and Leviathan is his discourse on politics and power, both civil and ecclesiastical.

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