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Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679)
Thomas Hobbes is one of the most prominent political theorists in the English language. His many texts, but most prominently his Leviathan (1651), established him as one of the key theorists of sovereignty, political authority, and social contract theory.
Life and Works
Although Leviathan is his most famous book (and will be the focus of this entry), Hobbes wrote many other important works as well. Many of these other works, particularly The Elements of Law (1640) and De Cive (1642), serve in some ways as precursors for Leviathan. Another important book, Behemoth, was an account of the English civil war and came out posthumously, in 1681. Taking his opus as a whole, Hobbes is often regarded as a “protoliberal.” Although he wrote before the true advent of ...
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