Leviathan · Chapter
Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a Commonwealth explained
Hobbes explains why men, driven by natural passions and the desire for self-preservation, willingly submit to a common power to escape the state of war.
What happens
Hobbes explains why men, driven by natural passions and the desire for self-preservation, willingly submit to a common power to escape the state of war. He argues that covenants without a sword are insufficient, and that only by uniting under one sovereign—through mutual covenants—can peace and security be achieved. He contrasts human society with that of bees and ants, highlighting the need for an artificial covenant and a common power to enforce it. This union creates the 'mortal god' Leviathan, a commonwealth defined as one person authorized by the multitude to act for their peace and defense.
Themes in this chapter
State of Nature and Social Contract
The chapter details the transition from the state of nature—a condition of war—to civil society through mutual covenants, establishing a commonwealth.
Sovereignty and Absolute Power
Hobbes defines the sovereign as the bearer of the commonwealth's person, with absolute power to enforce peace and defense, calling it a 'mortal god.'
Human Nature and Passions
The chapter emphasizes that natural passions like pride, revenge, and competition lead to war, necessitating a common power to restrain them.
Liberty and Obligation
Men voluntarily give up their right of self-governance to the sovereign, creating an obligation to obey for the sake of peace and security.
Characters to notice
- Aristotle
Referenced as numbering bees and ants among political creatures.
Key passages
“For the laws of Nature, as 'justice,' 'equity,' 'modesty,' 'mercy,' and, in sum, 'doing to others, as we would be done to,' of themselves, without the terror of some power, to cause them to be observed, are contrary to our natural passions, that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge, and the like.”
Natural moral principles like justice and mercy are ineffective without a coercive authority, because our innate selfishness and pride lead us to ignore them.
Hobbes argues that natural law alone cannot ensure peace; a sovereign power is necessary to enforce it.
“This is the generation of that great 'leviathan,' or rather, to speak more reverently, of that 'mortal god,' to which we owe under the 'immortal God,' our peace and defence.”
The commonwealth is created as a powerful artificial entity—a mortal god—that secures peace and protection, subordinate only to the divine.
Hobbes introduces the metaphor of Leviathan to describe the sovereign authority as a mortal god.
“The only way to erect such a common power, as may be able to defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the injuries of one another, and thereby to secure them in such sort, as that by their own industry, and by the fruits of the earth, they may nourish themselves and live contentedly, is, to confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will.”
To achieve lasting security and prosperity, individuals must transfer all their power to a single ruler or assembly, unifying their diverse wills into one.
Hobbes outlines the mechanism of the social contract: the collective surrender of power to a sovereign.