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Name: _______________________ Frontispiece in Thomas Hobbes Leviathan. 1. "Non est potestas Super Terram quae Comparetur ei" There is no power on earth to be compared with him 2. What is Leviathan? What has it come to mean? Why did Hobbes choose it as a title? 3. What does the imagery of this etching tell the readers? What does this tell us about Hobbes beliefs on government? 4. What differs from John Locke’s beliefs on government? In your notebook (for the entry Leviathan): Copy and complete the sentences below: 1. Thomas Hobbes was ________. Hobbes described a social contract as ______. For Hobbes’s Leviathan : 2. OPVL (Origin – Purpose – Value – Limitation) 3. Describe humans as Hobbes saw them. 4. Explain Thomas Hobbes’s basic argument in favor of absolutism. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher. His book on government, Leviathan is the foundation for the social contract theory in politics. According to Hobbes, at one time people lived without any government. He describes their lives as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Hobbes believed that all humans were selfish and wicked. In his understanding (based on the events of his lifetime) violence and disorder came naturally to all people. Without government, in a state of nature, Hobbes described a constant "war of all against all." Hobbes argued that without an absolute government chaos would occur. At some point people agreed to give up their freedom to a ruler to gain order and safety. He called this agreement, by which people created government, the social contract. Since people acted of their own interest, Hobbes said, the ruler needed total power to keep citizens under control. The best government was one that had the power of a leviathan. In Hobbes’s view an absolute monarchy was the best choice to impose order and demand obedience. Order was more important than freedom and people would obey rulers even if they felt the monarch ruled poorly.

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Page 1: Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan - PBworksassiduity.pbworks.com/f/Thomas+Hobbes+-+Leviathan.pdf · Name: _____ Frontispiece in Thomas Hobbes Leviathan. 1. "Non est potestas Super Terram

Name: _______________________

Frontispiece in Thomas Hobbes Leviathan.

1. "Non est potestas Super Terram quae Comparetur ei" There is no power on earth to be compared with him

2. What is Leviathan? What has it come to mean? Why did Hobbes choose it as a title?

3. What does the imagery of this etching tell the readers? What does this tell us about Hobbes beliefs on government?

4. What differs from John Locke’s beliefs on government?

In your notebook (for the entry Leviathan): Copy and complete the sentences below: 1. Thomas Hobbes was ________. Hobbes described a social contract as ______.

For Hobbes’s Leviathan: 2. OPVL (Origin – Purpose – Value – Limitation) 3. Describe humans as Hobbes saw them. 4. Explain Thomas Hobbes’s basic argument in favor of absolutism.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher. His book on government, Leviathan is the foundation for the social contract theory in politics. According to Hobbes, at one time people lived without any government. He describes their lives as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Hobbes believed that all humans were selfish and wicked. In his understanding (based on the events of his lifetime) violence and disorder came naturally to all people. Without government, in a state of nature, Hobbes described a constant "war of all against all." Hobbes argued that without an absolute government chaos would occur. At some point people agreed to give up their freedom to a ruler to gain order and safety. He called this agreement, by which people created government, the social contract. Since people acted of their own interest, Hobbes said, the ruler needed total power to keep citizens under control. The best government was one that had the power of a leviathan. In Hobbes’s view an absolute monarchy was the best choice to impose order and demand obedience. Order was more important than freedom and people would obey rulers even if they felt the monarch ruled poorly.