Leviathan

Leviathan

Leviathan is a book by Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, and this was his famous book which later became the basis for a large part of Western political philosophy. The book centers on his ideas regarding the structure of society as its full name, The Matter, Formed and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil, denotes. The basic premise of the book is based on Hobbes argument that it is only through establishment of a commonwealth via social contract that peace and civil unity can be truly achieved. The book is called Leviathan because that in Hebrew (and the Bible) means "sea monster" and in the context of this book, is representative of Hobbes's perfect government, the commonwealth as an enormous human form built out of the bodies of its citizens with the sovereign as its head. Hence, throughout his book, he argues rigorously for the necessity of Leviathan for a peaceful society and averting the threat of civilian conflicts and war.

Leviathan comprises four books: "Of Man," where he sets out the philosophical framework for the entire book and discusses the natural state of man described by "war of every man against every man", to prevent which a social contract and Leviathan are absolutely essential; "Of Common-wealth," in which he outlines the process of establishing the Leviathan, details the rights of both sovereigns and subjects, and postulates legislative and civil governance mechanisms of the his perfect governmental setup; "Of a Christian Common-wealth," which as the name signifies discusses the religious structure of the Leviathan and aligns his philosophy with Christian systems; and "Of the Kingdome of Darkness," where he rejects some of the false religious ideas prevalent at the time and asserts the need for the Leviathanic state to enable the achievement of a true Christian commonwealth.

The fact that Leviathan was written during the English Civil War (1642-1651) is quite obvious throughout since the major part of the book focuses on how imperative the establishment of a strong sovereign authority is for the prevention of disputes and civil war. At places Hobbes states that if such an authority were to abuse its power in any way, civilians should merely come to terms with it because that is the price, so to speak, that they pay for peace and harmony in the state.

He specifically proposes the outright nullification of the doctrine of separation of powers, deeming it unnecessary in the presence of a sovereign, which must have all primary civil, military, judicial and churchly powers. I do not agree with this view because I strongly believe that the presence of one executive in whom all the powers are vested is a definite recipe for tyranny and infringement of rights. It concentrates power in one place, and ensures that people have virtually no say or power in the matters that affect them. While that may be the very foundation of