Leviathan Etc

Leviathan concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. Contents: Of Man Of Sense Of Imagination Of the Consequence or Train of Imagination Of Speech Of Reason and Science Of the Ends or Resolutions of Discourse Of the Virtues Commonly Called Intellectual; and Their Contrary Defects Of the Several Subject of Knowledge Of Power, Worth, Dignity, Honour and Worthiness Of the Difference of Manners Of Religion Of the First and Second Natural Laws, and of Contracts Of Other Laws of Nature Of Persons, Authors, and Things Personated Of Commonwealth Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a Commonwealth Of the Rights of Sovereigns by Institution Of Dominion Paternal and Despotical Of the Liberty of Subjects Of Systems Subject Political and Private Of the Public Ministers of Sovereign Power Of Counsel Of Civil Laws Of Crimes, Excuses, and Extenuations Of Punishments and Rewards Of the Office of the Sovereign Representative Of the Kingdom of God by Nature Of a Christian Commonwealth Of the Principles of Christian Politics Of the Signification in Scripture of Kingdom of God, of Holy, Sacred, and Sacrament Of the Signification in Scripture of the Word Church Of the Rights of the Kingdom of God, in Abraham, Moses, the High Priests, and the Kings of Judah Of the Office of Our Blessed Saviour Of Power Ecclesiastical Of What Is Necessary for a Man's Reception into the Kingdom of Heaven Of the Kingdom of Darkness Of Spiritual Darkness from Misinterpretation of Scripture Of Demonology and Other Relics of the Religion of the Gentiles Of Darkness from Vain Philosophy and Fabulous Traditions Of the Benefit That Proceedeth from Such Darkness, and to Whom It Accrueth

Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, from 1651, is one of the first and most influential arguments towards social contract. Written in the midst of the English Civil War, it concerns the structure of government and society and argues for strong central governance and the rule of an absolute sovereign as the way to avoid civil war and chaos.

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes's landmark work on political philosophy, James Martel argues that although Hobbes pays lip service to the superior interpretive authority of the sovereign, he consistently subverts this authority throughout the book by returning it to the reader. Martel demonstrates that Hobbes's radical method of reading not only undermines his own authority in the text, but, by extension, the authority of the sovereign as well. To make his point, Martel looks closely at Hobbes's understanding of religious and rhetorical representation. In Leviathan, idolatry is not just a matter of worshipping images but also a consequence of bad reading. Hobbes speaks of the "error of separated essences," in which a sign takes precedence over the idea or object it represents, and warns that when the sign is given such agency, it becomes a disembodied fantasy leading to a "kingdom of darkness." To combat such idolatry, Hobbes offers a method of reading in which one resists the rhetorical manipulation of figures and tropes and recognizes the codes and structures of language for what they are-the only way to convey a fundamental inability to ever know "the thing itself." Making the leap to politics, Martel suggests that following Hobbes's argument, the sovereign can also be seen as idolatrous--a separated essence--a figure who supplants the people it purportedly represents, and that learning to be better readers enables us to challenge, if not defeat, the authority of the sovereign.

Leviathan is a sea monster referenced in the Tanakh, or the Old Testament. This word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature. Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil—commonly referred to as Leviathan—is a book written by Thomas Hobbes and first published in 1651. Its name derives from the biblical Leviathan. The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. Leviathan ranks as a classic Western work on statecraft comparable to Machiavelli's The Prince. Written during the English Civil War, 1642–1651, Leviathan argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Hobbes wrote that civil war and the brute situation of a state of nature ("the war of all against all") could only be avoided by strong, undivided government.