Leviathan is both a magnificent literary achievment and the greatest work of political philosophy in English. Permanently challenging, it has found new applications and new refutations in every generation. Hobbes argues that human beings are above all concerned with their own individual desires and fears. He shows that a conflict of each against every man can only be avoided by adopting a compact to enforce peace. This envolves giving up some of our natural freedom to a sovereign power which will enforce the laws of peace on all citizens. Hobbes also analyses the subversive forces that threaten to destroy the body politic, Leviathan itself, and return us to the state of war.
This new edition reproduces the first printed text, retaining the original punctuation but modernizing the spelling, and incorporating the corrections found in the best copies. It offers exceptionally thorough and useful annotation, an introduction that guides the reader througt the complexities of Hobbes’s arguments, and a substantial index.
[Présentation de l’éditeur]

Oxford University Press - Oxford World’s Classics
576 pages - 12,9 × 19,6 cm
ISBN 978-0-19-953728-0 - septembre 2008