Thomas Hobbes Ieviathan - Essay Example

Always he based his argument on the violent deaths of men on the hands of another man. He believed that the only way natural laws could work was only by submitting the commands t the sovereign. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Oxford 1996 Thomas Hobbes has his own reputation on political philosophy. He is widely known to be a thinker with so many interests in political philosophy. In the world of philosophy, Thomas H. is widely known for his defense on a wide range of issues that included Naminalist, empiricist, and materialist views in contrast to republic.

In history too, he is also known to have translated Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian war in to now English which saw him later write his own history on the long parliament. Generally, Thomas H. is widely known for his participation in his intellectual life.1 His vision of the world is original and still relevant to the contemporary politics. His main concern is majorly the problems of the social and political order, which is how human beings can live together without fear or civil conflicts in our societies.

He has ever insisted in giving our obedience to an account able sovereign person or group to determine every social political issue. Otherwise, what awaits us is a state of nature, which more closely resembles a civil war whereby everybody in any society is in a state of fear. It is due to Hobbes interpretations, which lead to so many controversies as to whether he sees human beings as merely egoistic or purely self-interested. He goes on to posits unconnected and primitive state of nature whereby men have the natural proclivity to hurt another man and have rights over everything even to one another’s body.

This is what making me defends Hobbes in his argument whereby powers should be rested on the sovereign state. Power is entrusted to a certain group who ensures that there is law and order in that state and no civil wars2. In the early 1640s, this is the time when Hobbes started making an impact with most of the philosophical writings and one of his own was the elements of law, whereby he started with the developments of the workings of the human mind and language also the political matters. One of his first published books on philosophy was the De Cive published in 1642, which encompasses three main aspects, which included Empire, Liberty, and religion.

Later when in France Hobbes then wrote Leviathan and this book was published in 1651. Leviathan basically comprises of matters of scriptural interpretation and it is in this book where majorly his work evolves in. Leviathan is a book written by Thomas Hobbes during the civil war. Its concerns are basically on the society and the legitimate government hence taken as one of the examples of the social contract theory. He argues that social unity and civil peace can only be achieved through the establishment of a commonwealth through the social contract.

This common wealth is then ruled by either a sovereign power or even a single ruler who provides security to the common wealth. He is a man who has lived in fear, which then eventually led him to write the leviathan. In his book, He set out the foundation of states plus the legitimate governments, which are said to have originated from the social contract theory3. This book is known to have been written during the English civil wars. It was as a result of these evil