WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Hobbes was the first modern philosopher to articulate a detailed social contract theory that appeared in his 1651 work Leviathan. In it, Hobbes set out his doctrine of the foundation of states and legitimate governments and creating an objective science of morality.

Detailed explanation-2: -According to Hobbes, the only way to escape civil war and to maintain a state of peace in a commonwealth is to institute an impartial and absolute sovereign power that is the final authority on all political issues. Hobbes believes his own political philosophy scientifically proves such a conclusion.

Detailed explanation-3: -In Leviathan, Hobbes expressed his principle of materialism and his concept of a social contract forming the basis of society.

Detailed explanation-4: -The title of the book referred to a leviathan. This is a mythological, whale-like sea monster that devoured whole ships. Hobbes likened the leviathan to government, a powerful state created to impose order. Hobbes began Leviathan by describing the state of nature where all individuals were equal.

Detailed explanation-5: -What does Leviathan say about politics and society? Hobbes proposed that the natural basic state of humankind is one of anarchy, with the strong dominating the weak. Life for most people, he said, was ‘solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short’. Therefore, our one natural right is of self-preservation.

Detailed explanation-6: -Hobbes argues that the state of nature is a miserable state of war in which none of our important human ends are reliably realizable. Happily, human nature also provides resources to escape this miserable condition.