Leviathan (Hobbes book): Difference between revisions

'''''Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth 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).<ref name="Newey"/><ref>Hilary Brown, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aVAMccAgim8C&dq= ''Luise Gottsched the Translator''], Camden House, 2012, p. 54.</ref><ref>It's in this edition that Hobbes coined the expression {{lang|la|auctoritas non veritas facit legem}}, which means "authority, not truth, makes law": book 2, chapter 26, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IY8o8On4gJ4C&pg=RA1-PA133&dq=%22Authoritas+non+Veritas+facit+Le+m%22 133].</ref> 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|social contract theory]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes-moral/|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |year=2018 }} (Retrieved 11 March 2009)</ref> Written during the [[English Civil War]] (1642–1651), it argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute [[Sovereignty|sovereign]]. Hobbes wrote that civil war and the brute situation of a [[state of nature]] ("[[bellum omnium contra omnes|the war of all against all]]") could be avoided only by a strong, undivided government.