The Leviathan is the fundamental work of Thomas Hobbes. In it, he begins to work on a treatise on the fundamental behavior of the relationship of the nature of men to society. For Hobbes, the nature of mankind is evil. Society exists when men come together to escape the evil of other men and thus fund walls that will protect them from the barbarian world on which nothing awaits but death and endless suffering. In this, the purpose of government exists to create a power by which all men enter into a contract and create a political and armed system to stop fellow neighbors from killing each other by ordaining the order of society through the fear of the man-made god. It is then that Hobbes's religion, superficially Christianity, creates a true evil through ignorance since it aims to create a society without walls. For Hobbes religion is a lie that hurts the society by robbing the government of the power to create values and moral judgments.
My thoughts on the Leviathan:
Men thus run away from the state of nature, in hope of escaping the fear of death. The fear thus creates the passion for survival which will push us into a contract. The contract will be upheld by the infallible leader, the sovereign. His word will be the law; thus, he cannot err. Keeping us away from injustices. By living in a world where justice existed, we will realize that a bad government is still better than the state of nature. Thus, we will be willing to trade our own freedom and rights, for peace and society of laws. The communal life is, therefore, the life of necessity.
Men by nature seek to create war because we [men] are selfish. If it was possible, we would spend time hunting for each other, so we could devour our neighbor. Men therefore inclined to the passion of living seek not to be devoured by their own neighbor, for Hobbes states, “The passions that incline men to Peace, are Feare of Death.” (Hobbes, Ch. XIII). Therefore, men have developed political knowledge not to contemplate the best possible community, but to seek political morality, which serves peace. For it is better to serve the purpose of not killing each other, peace than to live in a constant state of battles, hate, and distrust in which life would be nasty, ugly, and poor. This system is then funded by the American values of Jefferson. A system not aimed towards God but towards mankind as if we were gods.
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