Thomas Hobbes: The Leviathan

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The Leviathan, or The matter, form and power of an ecclesiastical and civil republic, is the most representative book of Thomas Hobbes, and without a doubt, one of the most important political philosophy treatises of all time. In this lesson from a PROFESSOR, we will briefly summarize Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes's masterpiece, in which the author makes a defense of the absolute State and of law, as the foundation of society, while proposing a theory of the contract Social. If you want to know a summary of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, continue reading this post. We started!

Index

1. Structure of the Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
2. Summary of the first part of Leviathan: Of man
3. Leviathan Part II: Of The State
4. Part III: Of the Christian State
5. Part IV: The Kingdom of Darkness

In his most important work, the Leviathan, Hobbes analyzes the nature of the human being, that as a social being, it needs a State to direct it. It starts from the idea that individuals, possessors of thought and emotion, are capable of modifying nature, of distinguishing between good and evil, and also have developed a language.

The individual, says Hobbes, in a state of nature, is evil, Man is a wolf to man, and therefore, he needs a higher power to direct him, to govern him, to restrain part of his Liberty, in exchange for security. And this, in the work, is Leviathan, the monster of the Leviathan bible, of immense power, of which it is said:

"No one is so daring to wake him up... The strong are afraid of his greatness... There is no one on Earth who resembles it, an animal made without fear. He despises everything high; he is king over all the proud".

The book is divided into 4 parts:

1. Part I: Of man
2. Part II: State
3. Part III: Of the Christian state
4. Part IV: Kingdom of darkness

Next, we will briefly explain each of the parts that make up the work.

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To address this summary of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes we will now enter the first part.

Hobbes begins by studying the nature of being in terms of being, that is, he begins by making a ontological analysis of the human being, to continue with a study of the individual as a social being, as a member of a society, and how, through his experiences within it, he is making himself.

The language, the reason and even the sensation, are understood by Hobbes as products of that society, which constitutes the human being. Sensation, he claims, affects the senses and the entire body, making it capable of producing different aspects. ANDn effect: there is no conception in the human intellect that has not previously been received, totally or in part, by the sense organs. The human being, for the philosopher, would be the set of his sensations and it is through the senses that the individual knows reality.

The imaginationIt comes from feeling, only weakened. Imagination, Hobbes asserts, is not “but a feeling that weakens; sensation found in men and many other living creatures, both during sleep and in a vigilant state”.

The experience is built by the repetition of facts that are stored in the memory, and from a series of mental combinations, the human being is able to anticipate the facts, to predict them. He knows the prudence. Human reason is characterized by the ability to measure the consequences.

For Hobbes, human will, as well as his behavior, is driven by desire and passion. And it is in this incessant search to live. The problem arises when there are many who want the same thing. That is when the "War of all against all”. Says the author, lMan's life is lonely, poor, malevolent, gross, and short.

There are three causes of wars, for the philosopher, namely: the competition, that favors the invasion; the distrust, For security; and the glory, for the honor. This will be the starting point for Hobbes' 19 laws of nature, the first two being the most important and from which all the others follow.

Hobbes's first law of nature says: Seek peace and follow it, and total self-defense. This means that every individual has to seek peace as far as possible and when he is not, then he has to seek war to achieve it. The second law consists of: Give up natural rights in favor of peace. Which means that, in favor of peace, it is necessary to sacrifice the right and freedom, typical of the human being.

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We continue the summary of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes spoken in the second part of the work where Hobbes develops his idea of ​​the social contract. This consists of an agreement between human beings in order to guarantee the safety of individuals. This is the guarantee of security and the only way to end the war of all against all. The natural passions of the human being, generates individual interests, and goes against morality.

The State is the sum of the individual liberties, who reach an agreement, renouncing certain rights, for the common good. Thus, the individual gives up part of his freedom, in exchange for security. The power of the State is absolute, although it is true that individuals can rebel when the sovereign poses a danger to their security or breaks the social contract. Hobbes will defend three types of state: the monarchy, the aristocracy and democracy.

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The third part of Leviathan, Hobbes dedicates to making an analysis of the relations between the Church and the State, between spiritual power and temporal power, defending the submission of the first to the second, since the State, has absolute power and indivisible.

The State, for the philosopher, cannot be a Christian State, since, in the absence of evidence, it is not possible to believe what the sacred scriptures say, because You can know for sure if what they say is true or if they are a true reflection of God's word, or perhaps it is possible that his word was misunderstood. Therefore, there is only the obligation to obey the sovereign of the State, which he only has legislative power.

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And we conclude this summary of Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan to focus on the fourth part that constitutes a harsh criticism against the Church, which he accuses of mythologizing Christianity and even denounced a certain degree of atheism within it. And no, by darkness he does not mean hell, since obviously he does not believe in this.

When he talks about darkness, he is talking about ignorance, lack of knowledge, when it comes to understanding the sacred scriptures. This would be behind the false belief that the Church is the kingdom of God, which implies submitting the power of the State to it.

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Hobbes, T, 1651. Leviathan. Ed. Planet, 2018