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The Leviathan In The Book Of Job

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Before Thomas Hobbes, the Leviathan is a biblical reference to a monstrous sea serpent that was a divine creation made to rule the lands and seas mentioned in the Book of Job. To Hobbes, however, the Leviathan is a human creation used to solve political problems. According to Hobbes, humans mimic nature to create manmade machines to do their work (Hobbes 7). By this principle, Hobbes introduces “the great Leviathan called a Commonwealth, or State (in Latin, Civitas), which is but an artificial man, though of greater stature and strength than the natural” (Hobbes 7). Hobbes, therefore, depicts the Commonwealth as an "artificial person" made from “pacts and covenants” that protects and defends its members (Hobbes 7). He reasons that what brought the Leviathan into being can be compared to God’s proclamation of “Let us make man” (Hobbes 7). In the Leviathan, each member of the community has their own …show more content…

To start, “the sovereignty”, a supreme and independent power of the state, “is an artificial soul, as giving life and motion to the whole body” (Hobbes 7). Secondly, the magistrates and other community officers act as the artificial joints that allow the community to move. The nerves of the body are found in rewards and punishments. These consequences are attached to the soul so that “every joint and member is moved to perform his duty (Hobbes 7). Hobbes finds the strength of the body politic in the wealth and riches of all the particular members of the society (Hobbes 7). As previously stated, the body’s main occupation is promoting and protecting the safety of its people. To complete this, it receives advice from the Counselors, which become its memory while justice and law become the body’s reason and will. When the Leviathan is healthy and functional, it is at peace. Illness and death, however, come from sedition and becomes civil

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In this book he expressed his thought into four parts: 1)of man, 2) of commonwealth 3) of a christian commonwealth, and 4) of the kingdom of darkness.(Leviathan)In the first part of man he assuredly states that “So that in the first place, I put for a general inclination of all mankind a perpetual and restless desire of Power after power, that ceaseth only in Death. ”(Leviathan 47) This proves another point in Hobbes point that there should be a higher power in which governs us since humans are crazy beings only craving power.(Leviathan)So intentionally Thomas Hobbes wrote of a solution which will solve this but was it the correct method in solving this? As we read further to part 2 of the Leviathan he proves an other but disturbing point he states "During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man. ”(Leviathan)

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With the creation of what Hobbes refers to as “state of nature”, Hobbes alters his philosophical content into an odd cross blend of genres, in order to portray the innate and natural state of humankind and its anecdotal perspectives is the result of abstract creativity. A story commences to rise within Leviathan, a tragedy whose fundamental characters are common men battling for survival against the savagery of the innate world and the misuse of each other. Hobbes ' depiction of the contingency of nature resembles his portrayal of what he refers to as “motion of matter”(pg.99). Hobbesian text bodies steadily and fiercely into one another similarly to the way that human bodies clash with state of nature. In this manner, not only does every layer of Hobbes ' contentions expand upon the rationale of the last, every layer reflects previous symbolism and

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In his most well-known work Leviathan, Hobbes dictates that all humans are similar, they have same objective and adopt the same means of obtaining it. When he talks about the reasons why people want to create a legal state, he refers to the basic nature and behavior of humans. He mentions state of nature which is hypothetical condition of no-government. In the state of nature, every man would have whatever he could obtain by whatever means and property would be one’s own only as long as one could keep it. There is no restriction, no morality, no law in the state of nature, and people are consistently engaged in the “war of every man against every man”.

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According to Hobbes, a sovereign, whether the sovereign was placed into power by violence or force, is the only way to secure law and order. For him, if a citizen obeys the sovereign for fear of punishment or in the fear of the state of nature, it is the choice of the citizen. According to Hobbes, this is not tyranny; it is his idea of a society that is successful, one that does not have room for democracy. As a realist, Hobbes has a fierce distrust of democracy and viewed all of mankind in a restless desire for power. If the people are given power, law and order would crumble in Hobbes’ eyes.

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In contrast to Hobbes, who argues social bonds form to regulate human nature, Rousseau argues that the formation of the civil state results from and in a “change in man,” that humans must of necessity be denatured in the process of forming society. There are similarities between the two’s philosophies, but it is Rousseau, through his arguments that human nature can be changed, who articulates a political vision more consistent with the claim that humans are asocial by nature. In the beginning, the arguments of both Hobbes and Rousseau are similar. Man in nature is isolated.

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One his theories, stated in his book called Leviathan said that people are not able rule themselves because of how selfish mankind is and they need to be ruled by an iron fist. His political theory was that was also stated in Leviathan was that we should respect government authority under all circumstances to avoid violence. Hobbes was scared of the outcome of the social contract which meant people could get rid of the government if they were unhappy with what they were getting. In order to make well with the social contract he states in Leviathan that people should be completely obedient to the government. His reasoning was that if there was no government, there would be chaos.

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Hobbes’ depiction of the role of the sovereign presented a subtle but distinct understanding in the formation

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Both social contract philosophers defended different views about moral and political obligations of men living in the state of nature stripped of their social characters. The state of nature illustrates how human beings acted prior to entering into civil society and becoming social beings living under common legitimacy. The state of nature is to be illustrated as a hypothetical device to explain political importance in the society. Thomas Hobbes, propounded politics and morality in his concept of the state

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He believes that the human condition, the traditions, experiences, and knowledge acquired by humans, is far to complex to be described by science and therefore avoids he commonly held views of political science from the Enlightenment Era. However, Thomas Hobbes, as he writes in Leviathan (1651) believed that all political phenomenons could be reported systematically as he equated all humans to machines, predictable by consistently acting in their self interest. [PG 3] Burke’s criticism that can be applied to Hobbes lies on three fronts; that the understanding human condition cannot be derived through logic; that consent, explicit or tacit, does not exist after the first social contract; and that a rebellion is neither possible nor effective when in a social contract. Thomas Hobbes’ prefaces his discussion of the social contract by giving credence to what he understood as science.

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That is, the war of all against all, the natural state of human nature, does not necessarily mean an actual war but the disposition of all individuals to compete for every and anything desired or needed in order to survive 74 (Hobbes I.12.1-5). The state of nature also implies the lack of a sovereign or at least a non-functioning sovereignty. Therefore, in a Leviathan society, Hobbes implores all to submit to a sovereign so that its subjects no longer live in a state of nature. An unsuccessful sovereignty leads to civil war, and can potentially bring the commonwealth, moving back the state of nature. Hobbes also sets forth the idea that out of aristocracies, democracies, and monarchies, the latter one is the best type of commonwealth, instituted through agreement or acquisitioned by force (Hobbes II.18.1, II.20.1).

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Hobbes developed the ‘social contract theory’, which is the idea that civilians give up some of their freedom and liberty for protection from the leader. This concept, which was used during Hobbes’s time, is still a part of the government today. Hobbes brings down this concept in his world famous book, Leviathan. A picture of a ‘giant’ monarch holding onto a tiny world is used to describe his version of the social contract. The drawing depicts the trade of freedom for safety.

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Hobbes was an English philosopher, known through out the world as the author of “Leviathan” which is regarded as one of the earliest examples of the social contract theory. His writings were greatly influenced by the

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Hobbes believes that the sovereign must have absolute power over the lives of their people in order for their society to work. However, he also believes that humans must give up their natural rights and individualism in order gain the security that the absolute power of the sovereign offers. Hobbes’ liberalist ideals concerning absolute sovereignty is given to an assembly of people, the natural right of individuals, and tolerance of private religious diversity are the beginnings of the United States’ democratic government, however, Hobbes is

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Thomas Hobbes proposed that the ideal government should be an absolute monarchy as a direct result of experiencing the English Civil War, in which there was internal conflict between the parliamentarians and the royalists. Hobbes made this claim under the assumption that an absolute monarchy would produce consistent policies, reduce conflicts and lower the risk of civil wars due to the singular nature of this ruling system. On another hand, John Locke counters this proposal with the view that absolute monarchies are not legitimate as they are inconsistent with the state of nature. These two diametrically opposed views stem from Hobbes’ and Locke’s different understandings of human nature, namely with regard to power relationships, punishment, and equality in the state of nature. Hobbes’ belief that human beings are selfish and appetitive is antithetical with Locke’s contention that human beings are intrinsically moral even in the state of nature, which results in Locke’s strong disagreement with Hobbes’ proposed absolute monarchy.

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As a 17th century philosopher, Thomas Hobbes was best remembered for his work Leviathan. Hobbes had a large impact on the political views of society. He held the view that humans were able to thrive in harmony whilst avoiding fear of social conflict. Coming off of this idea of harmony and avoiding social conflict, Hobbes coined and established the social contract theory. This theory has been laid as the bedrock for most Western political philosophy.

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