Leviathan

’He that is to govern a whole Nation, must read inÂhimself, not this, or that particular man; but Man-kind.’

Thomas Hobbes’s LeviathanÂis not just one of the greatest philosophicalÂtexts in the English language; it is one of the most important works in theÂhistory of Western political thought. Almost every major tradition in theÂcenturies after Hobbes - from radical democracy to authoritarianism - hasÂbeen influenced by its arguments. Written in exile in a period of dramaticÂdevelopments - civil war and regicide - LeviathanÂis in some ways theÂproduct of its own special circumstances. And yet, at the same time, Âit deals with fundamental issues that matter to all of us today: the natureÂand purpose of the state, the relation between human nature and politics, Âthe idea of natural rights, the justification of authority, the concept ofÂrepresentation, the nature of sovereignty, the limits of obedience, andÂthe relationship between religious obligations and human ones.

This new edition offers a definitive text drawn from more than twentyÂyears of research by Noel Malcolm, including, in English translation, allÂthe most significant revisions made in Hobbes’s later Latin translation of Leviathan, as well as extensive explanatory notes that elucidate Hobbes’sÂlanguage and identify the many Biblical, classical, and other allusionsÂthat are scattered through his text.

Thomas Hobbes

Noel Malcolm studied History and English Literature at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He began his career as a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; he was then political columnist and, subsequently, Foreign Editor of the Spectator. In 1999 he was a lecturer at Harvard and gave the Carlyle Lectures at Oxford in 2001. Since 2002 he has been a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, and at Cambridge an Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse, Trinity, and Gonville and Caius. He was knighted in 2014 for services to scholarship, journalism, and European history.