![]() The figure with the sword and scepter is the Sovereign. This is the image found on the frontispiece of Leviathan. OF THE RIGHTS OF SOVERAIGNES BY INSTITUTION The Act Of Instituting A Common-wealth, WhatĪ Common-wealth is said to be Instituted, when a Multitude of men do Agree, and Covenant, Every One With Every One, that to whatsoever Man, or Assembly Of Men, shall be given by the major part, the Right to Present the Person of them all, (that is to say, to be their Representative ) every one, as well he that Voted For It, as he that Voted Against It, shall Authorise all the Actions and Judgements, of that Man, or Assembly of men, in the same manner, as if they were his own, to the end, to live peaceably amongst themselves, and be protected against other men. ![]() Hobbes, that is to say, is no fan of the idea of separated political powers.Įxcerpts from Leviathan ( source) CHAPTER XVIII. If it is to save human beings from their own nature, the sovereign must have nearly total power, must never be question and, Hobbes argues in the passage below, must possess “indivisible” rights. In Leviathan, Hobbes famously imagines human beings in a state of nature where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” People will, Hobbes argues, quickly flee such a terrible condition, creating for their own protection a mighty Sovereign. ![]() ![]() The long and bloody struggle between the parliament and crown motivated and shaped his political ideas. Thomas Hobbes lived through the English Civil War. ![]()
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