Hobbes asked a question that still sits at the heart of politics: why should anyone obey a government? His answer, in Leviathan, was stark. Without strong authority, he argued, life would be a war of all against all. That bleak view, written during the turmoil of the English Civil War, laid foundations for modern political philosophy. Even thinkers who reject his conclusions still have to argue with him.
Key Milestones
1629: Thucydides – translates the Greek historian
1642: De Cive – early political work
1651: Leviathan – social contract classic
Thomas Hobbes ( HOBZ; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher and political theorist, best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy.
