Published in 1651 during England's political turmoil, Hobbes's foundational work of political philosophy argues that humans must surrender individual freedoms to a sovereign authority to escape the chaos of the "state of nature." The treatise examines how societies form governments and maintains that absolute power prevents civil war and ensures collective security.
Concerning the Thoughts of man, I will consider them first Singly, and afterwards in Trayne, or dependance upon one another. Singly, they are every one a Representation or Apparence, of some quality, or other Accident of a body without us; which is commonly called an Object. Which Object worketh on the Eyes, Eares, and other parts of mans body; and by diversity of working, produceth diversity of Apparences. The Originall of them all, is that which we call Sense; (For there is no conception in a mans mind, which hath not at first, totally, or by parts, been begotten upon the organs of Sense.) The rest are derived from that originall. To know the naturall cause of Sense, is not very necessary to the business now in hand; and I have els-where written of the same at large. Nevertheless, to fill each part of my present method, I will briefly deliver the same in this place.Continue reading →
A 17th-century English philosopher who witnessed civil war and political chaos, this thinker revolutionized how we understand government and human nature. His masterwork Leviathan (1651) argued that people need strong authority to escape the brutality of natural existence, coining the famous phrase describing life without government as "nasty, brutish, and short." All works by Thomas Hobbes →
Browse all Philosophy · 17th-18th C works