Description
Thomas Hobbes''s Leviathan is not just one of the greatest philosophical texts in the English language; it is one of the most important works in the history of Western political thought. Almost every major tradition in the centuries after Hobbesfrom radical democracy to authoritarianismhas been influenced by its arguments. Written in exile during a period of dramatic developmentscivil war and regicideLeviathan is in some ways the product of its own special circumstances. And yet, at the same time, it deals with fundamental issues that matter to all of us today: the nature and purpose of the state, the relation between human nature and politics, the idea of natural rights, the justification of authority, the concept of representation, the nature of sovereignty, the limits of obedience, and the relationship between religious obligations and human ones. This new edition offers a definitive text drawn from more than twenty years of research by Noel Malcolm, including, in English translati
