Leviathan (Annotated)

Differentiated book* It has a historical context with research of the timeWith his somber and realistic look, Leviathan has become one of the most important texts for understanding Western politics. Written in a convulsive time, during the English civil war, it crudely exposes the nature of the human being: selfish, competitive and always fearful of the greatest evil, violent death.In their natural state, Hobbes says, men lived in an anarchic condition, a war of all against all for...
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Differentiated book* It has a historical context with research of the timeWith his somber and realistic look, Leviathan has become one of the most important texts for understanding Western politics. Written in a convulsive time, during the English civil war, it crudely exposes the nature of the human being: selfish, competitive and always fearful of the greatest evil, violent death.In their natural state, Hobbes says, men lived in an anarchic condition, a war of all against all for survival, without a clear distinction between justice and injustice. Life, in that primal situation, is "lonely, poor, unpleasant, wild and short," according to the famous Hobbes formulation.But what allows the human being to escape from that state of despair? A powerful sovereign, the Leviathan, whose government is consented by the majority of individuals, who cede part of their rights and assume their authority. The sovereign can be an individual (Hobbes' favorite formula is the monarchy) or an assembly of individuals (a Parliament), but in any case the end of his power is to end the uninterrupted violence. The authority must impose a fear that appeases the worst instincts of men and causes them to fear punishment due to bad behavior.Hobbes's worldview surprised his contemporaries, his work was burned in public and accused of blasphemy. But his rejection of more optimistic perceptions about the human being and the purpose of power gave way to modern political thinking and, following the tradition inaugurated by Machiavelli, challenged us to see things as they are, not as we would like them to be.