"Leviathan"

Paper Summary:

This paper attempts to dissect Hobbes' "Leviathan" and provides the reader with a better understanding of the sovereign's status within the commonwealth, while at the same time touch upon Hobbes' view on human nature and justice.

From the Paper:

"Furthermore, all laws, either written or unwritten, derive their authority from the commonwealth (a.k.a. the sovereign), and to disobey the sovereign is not only breaking the original covenant the subject made to grant the sovereign the right to rule, but it's breaking the law (178). To put it most simply, when any subject disobeys the sovereign, the only person the subject hurts is himself. "Take away in any kind of state, the obedience (and consequently the concord of the people,) and they shall not only not flourish, but in short time be dissolved. And they that go about by disobedience, to do no more than reform the commonwealth, shall find they do thereby destroy it" (224-25). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan (Oxford World's Classics). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

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