Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Oxford World's Political Philosophy Classics | Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan is both a magnificent literary achievement and the greatest work of political philosophy in the English language.

Overview

Permanently challenging, it has found new applications and new refutations in every generation. This new edition reproduces the first printed text, retaining the original punctuation but modernizing the spelling. It offers exceptionally thorough and useful annotation, an introduction that guides the reader through the complexities of Hobbes's arguments, and a substantial index.

Synopsis

Leviathan is both a magnificent literary achievement and the greatest work of political philosophy in the English language. Permanently challenging, it has found new applications and new refutations in every generation. This new edition reproduces the first printed text, retaining the original punctuation but modernizing the spelling.

It offers exceptionally thorough and useful annotation, an introduction that guides the reader through the complexities of Hobbes's arguments, and a substantial index.

Summary

Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil, commonly referred to as Leviathan, is a book by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes and published in 1651.

Its name derives from the Leviathan of the Hebrew Bible.