Leviathan Annotated

Written during a moment in English history when the political and social structures were in flux and open to interpretation, Leviathan played an essential role in the development of the modern world.

This edition of LEVIATHAN includes: - INTRODUCTION by Henry Morley - An Extract from Alfred Edward Taylor's "Thomas Hobbes" LIFE, THE MAKING OF THE LEVIATHAN - QUOTES by Thomas Hobbes

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About David Johnston’s edition Carefully and faithfully edited by “one of our most astute commentators on Hobbes’s political theory” (Jeremy Waldron), the Norton Library edition of Leviathan features the complete text of the work, with spelling and punctuation thoughtfully modernized and archaic terms helpfully annotated throughout. An introduction by Kinch Hoekstra situates the work in its historical and intellectual context to prepare students for their first serious encounter with “the greatest single work of political thought in the English language” (John Rawls).

Leviathan, is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668).

Leviathan takes place in a time of historical and philosophical change. Historically, it was written just before England plunged into civil war - the result of a bitter power struggle between the British Parliament and the monarchy. Hobbes' earlier work came down decidedly on the side of the royalists - a position that sent him into exile in France - but Leviathan was attacked by both sides. Those opposed to the monarchy saw an extension of his previous arguments, which in many ways it was, that the subjects of a commonwealth were to obey their ruler absolutely. Yet royalists were also offended by the work, despite the fact that Hobbes argued that a monarchy is a preferable form a government to a democracy, because they perceived attacks on a monarch's divine right to rule, as well as the rules that governed succession, and accused Hobbes of "switching sides." Additionally, Hobbes was an avid student of the classics, and was convinced of the inherent instabilities of the ancient Greek and Roman democracies. When the struggle for power emerged in his own time, he undoubtedly saw this as another chapter in the story of democracy's volatility. For Hobbes, in the past democratic governments had only encouraged factionalism and in-fighting, which served only to distract it from more pressing issues, particularly invading armies.

A Los Angeles Times Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007 A Boston Globe Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007 Amazon.com Editors pick as one of the 10 best history books of 2007 Winner of the 2007 John Lyman Award for U. S. Maritime History, given by the North American Society for Oceanic History "The best history of American whaling to come along in a generation." —Nathaniel Philbrick The epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme," Herman Melville proclaimed, and this absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. Eric Jay Dolin begins his vivid narrative with Captain John Smith's botched whaling expedition to the New World in 1614. He then chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry—from its brutal struggles during the Revolutionary period to its golden age in the mid-1800s when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and American whale oil lit the world, to its decline as the twentieth century dawned. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs. Containing a wealth of naturalistic detail on whales, Leviathan is the most original and stirring history of American whaling in many decades.

Thomas Hobbes is a towering figure in the history of modern thought and political philosophy. He remains best remembered for his 1651 treatise on government, Leviathan, a work that shows at the very best the reasoning skills of a deeply original and creative thinker. Creative thinking is all about taking a novel approach to questions and problems – showing them in a new light. When Hobbes was writing Leviathan, the standard approach to understanding (and advocating for) monarchical government was to argue, using Christian theology, that kings and queens gained their power and legitimacy from God. At a time of intense political turmoil in England – with civil war raging from 1642-51 – Hobbes took the original step of basing a political theory upon reason alone, and focusing on human nature. His closely-reasoned arguments made the book a controversial best-seller across Europe at the time of its publication, and it has remained a cornerstone of political theory ever since. Though Hobbes argued for government by an absolute monarch, many of his ideas and precepts helped form modern liberal ideas of government, influencing, among others, the American Constitution.

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 (1588-1679) and published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668). 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.Hobbes by Hegel: Extract from "History of Philosophy".By G W F Hegel, 1805-6, trans. E S Haldane, 1892-6.Part Three: Modern Philosophy.Chapter I. - The Metaphysics of the Understanding. B 3. THOMAS HOBBES.