Leviathan Summary

Leviathan asks why human beings need government and why they should obey political authority. Hobbes imagines a “state of nature” in which no common authority exists to make laws, enforce agreements or protect people from violence. He does not merely claim that every person is naturally evil. His deeper argument is that insecurity, competition and fear make conflict reasonable even among people who would prefer peace. To escape this condition, individuals make a social contract and authorise a sovereign with enough power to maintain order. Hobbes favours a powerful and undivided sovereign because divided authority may produce civil war. His theory gives priority to peace and security, but it also raises a continuing question: how much freedom should citizens surrender to the state in exchange for protection?

• The state of nature: Without a common government, no authority can reliably protect life, property or agreements.

• Natural equality creates insecurity: Even a physically weak person may harm a stronger person through planning, alliances or surprise.

• Three causes of conflict: Hobbes identifies competition, distrust and the desire for reputation as major causes of human conflict.

• Fear encourages pre-emptive action: A person may attack another not because he desires war but because he fears being attacked first.

• Natural right: Every person naturally possesses the liberty to do what he believes necessary for self-preservation.

• The laws of nature: Reason teaches human beings to seek peace, honour agreements and limit their freedom when others agree to do the same.

• The social contract: Individuals transfer certain powers to a sovereign so that the sovereign can enforce peace and security.

• The sovereign is not a party to the contract: The agreement is primarily among individuals who authorise a common political authority.

• Security comes before political idealism: Hobbes believes that rights and prosperity cannot be enjoyed where violent disorder is constant.

• Famous quotation: Life without common authority is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”