HISTORY 5 Lecture 9: 9/27 Birth of the Leviathan
Document Summary
Thomas hobbes and the idea of the leviathan (1651) For hobbes, natural state of humanity = war of all against all. Humans pursue self-interest -> nasty, brutish, short life. Must voluntarily surrender freedom to sovereign; only thru binding authority is peace possible. Envisions the leviathan - artificial person, sum of ppls" indiv, voluntarily surrendered freedoms. No deprivation of freedom is possibly as bad as natural condition of war. Wrote it in exile in fr, immediately after sovereign got decapitated by subjects - hobbes" idea was a fantasy. Soon after, states acquired capacity to actually do what they claimed: Create a military that actually works for the state. Created a bureacr that could actually admin kingdom/collect taxes they were sposed to. Rationalization of state, so that ppl could be counted and governed. This lecture: processes by which states become modern. No single path; but the 3 we look at are more or less representative of rest of eur.
