Can anybody give an overview of Hobbes Leviathan in just a few sentences?
In the book, Thomas Hobbes argues for a social contract and rule by a sovereign. Influenced by the English Civil War, Hobbes wrote that chaos or civil war – situations identified with a state of nature and the famous motto Bellum omnium contra omnes (“the war of all against all”) – could only be averted by strong central government. He thus denied any right of rebellion toward the social contract, which would be later added by John Locke and conserved by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (However, Hobbes did discuss the possible dissolution of the State. Since the social contract was made to institute a state that would provide for the “peace and defence” of the people, the contract would become void as soon as the Leviathan no longer protected its citizens. By virtue of this fact, man would automatically return to the state of nature until a new contract is made). In modern usage, derived from Hobbes, the word “Leviathan” generally refers to the state and reflects concern that the state may exce
