POLSC201: Introduction to Western Political Thought

2.2: Sovereignty

• Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan

  Read this text. As you read, consider whether you think it would be possible for Hobbes to make the claims he does without Machiavelli's theories laid out almost a century and a half earlier.

  Thomas Hobbes designed the first theory of the sovereign state. In Leviathan, he sees life before the emergence of states as "nasty, brutish, and short", and envisions the Leviathan, a sovereign state led by a king who indiscriminately rules over his territory and citizenry. In turn, citizens give up their freedom for security.

  Study Guide Questions:

  1. According to Hobbes, why should we accept law and government?
  2. According to Hobbes, what form of law and government should we accept?
  3. Describe how, according to Hobbes, civil society comes to be and is sustained out of his version of the state of nature.

• 2.2.1: The State of Nature: A World of All against All

  • Yale University: Steven Smith's "The Sovereign State: Hobbes' Leviathan, Part I" Page

    Watch this lecture. As you watch, consider Hobbes' assertion of the innate equality of all human beings, which in some ways is a precursor to the concept of inalienable rights.

• 2.2.2: The Social Contract: Freedom Exchanged for Security

  • Yale University: Steven Smith's "The Sovereign State: Hobbes' Leviathan, Parts II and III" Page

    Watch these lectures.
    

  • Quickfire Quiz: Leviathan

    Answer these questions on the major themes in Hobbes' Leviathan.