author
Thomas Hobbes
1588–1679
Best known for Leviathan, this sharp and unsettling thinker helped shape the modern debate about power, fear, and why societies create governments at all. Writing in the shadow of civil war, he argued that political order begins with a hard look at human nature.
9 Audiobooks
Leviathan
by Thomas Hobbes
The Plague of Athens, which hapned in the second year of the Peloponnesian Warre First described in Greek by Thucydides; then in Latin by Lucretius. Now attempted in English
by Thomas Sprat, Thomas Hobbes, Thucydides
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 06 (of 11)
by Thomas Hobbes
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 01 (of 11)
by Thomas Hobbes
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 04 (of 11)
by Thomas Hobbes
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11)
by Thomas Hobbes
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 05 (of 11)
by Thomas Hobbes
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 02 (of 11)
by Thomas Hobbes
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 07 (of 11)
by Thomas Hobbes
About the author
Born in England in 1588, Thomas Hobbes became one of the most influential political philosophers of the early modern period. He is most closely associated with Leviathan (1651), the book that made his name and set out a powerful version of social contract theory.
Hobbes wrote during a time of deep political conflict, and that turmoil shaped his thinking. He argued that without a strong common authority, human life would be insecure and conflict-ridden, so people agree to give up some freedom in exchange for peace and protection.
Along with political theory, Hobbes also worked on questions in history, science, and language. Centuries later, he remains a central figure for readers interested in philosophy, the state, and the uneasy tradeoff between liberty and security.