The book Hobbes, Leviathan indicates that social unity and civil peace are attained through the development of commonwealth by use of social contract (Harris, 2017). The Commonwealth of Hobbes is controlled by sovereign power whose role is to protect commonwealth security and give absolute power of ensuring common defense. The author explains this commonwealth as an artificial person and a political body that mocks human body. The first part of the Leviathan was designed by Hobbes and exhibits the federation in the book as the sovereign represents a sizeable human form developed from its citizens' organizations and the head. Hobbes names the figure portrayed as Leviathan which means a sea monster and the biblical name monstrous sea animal. The image in the Leviathan consists of a particular metaphor used by Hobbes to represent a perfect state, and Hobbes text indicates the importance of Leviathan to maintain peace and prevent the occurrence of civil war.
Leviathan represents one of the essential philosophical work of Hobbes which was written as a response to fear the author experienced during English Civil War political turmoil. The war started in the 1640s as the parliament was turning against King Charles who was being supported by Hobbes and this made him live in fear of being killed. Hobbes fled from his country to France for eleven years because he was a royalist and the parliament could have persecuted him. The author wrote the book Leviathan while in France to explain and articulate the political philosophy and natural science that was being developed since the 1630s. The Leviathan book was later published after King Charles was beheaded and the parliament took over power in English country ruling in the name of the commonwealth.
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Hobbes argument in the book Leviathan on the importance of absolute sovereignty started during the unstable years caused by political civil wars in the English countryside. The emergence of Leviathan and other Republican Treaties aimed at looking for justice for the killing of King Charles to the Europeans. The work and the message of Hobbes were understandable because of his political argument and the philosophical way he used in his work as this made his controversy scandalize most of the contemporaries. The materialistic philosophy Hobbes used in the Leviathan is based on mechanistic understanding of the earth with all the phenomena being explained using motion and matter and ignoring other concepts such as disembodied souls and incorporeal spirits. Leviathan was faced with much criticism with Hobbes being accused of atheism and the many images used in the Leviathan made Hobbes to be named a Monster of Malmsbury and the country Bug-bear. The blame of Hobbes work was given to the government for allowing a fire to start in London and many of Hobbes books on philosophy were burned in Oxford. The continued chaotic environment in England after the civil wars made Hobbes experience live criticisms from people due to his daring propositions.
In writing the Leviathan book, Hobbes knew the message would be controversial as it was with the early monarchy text of advocate restoration when England was the most influential country. The Leviathan book was challenging the existing political and philosophical basis in the country with Hobbes arguing that the traditional philosophy used in the state did not reach accurate conclusions but only provided insubstantial rhetoric and useless sophistries (Jones, 2017). This makes Hobbes in the Leviathan book to ask for reforms in the philosophical context to ensure people secure the truth and have claims which would be agreed by every person. The philosophy Hobbes is advocating for would prevent arising of disagreements on the essential aspects of nature of humans, the community and correct governance. Hobbes’ plan to have a reformed philosophy in the country would ensure the end of political divisiveness which would end the occurrence of civil wars. This is because the civil wars in the country were caused by disagreements in the foundations of philosophy on knowledge of politics. Hobbes considered civil wars as the ultimate terror which created fear in the country hence his plan for reforming philosophy was aimed at changing the state to conquer fear.
Although Francis Bacon had advocated for a change in the traditional philosophy claiming that it was untrustworthy, Hobbes explains that the experimentalist strategy used by Bacon was not successful in developing a secure and indisputable knowledge. The scientific philosophy deduced by Hobbes is not experimental and was acquired through reasoning, and a conclusion was obtained from the stated institutions than being inferred from these institutions (Oakeshott, 2017). Hobbes explains that this philosophy offers a better understanding of the earth and the community than the traditional philosophy and experimental science. The Leviathan book gives a controversy in science and politics which challenges the contemporary philosophy and the government. The philosophical method used by Hobbes provides certain conclusions, and the depiction of the Leviathan about the community indicates that the rational method would end fear and war and this philosophy was very influential in specific areas in the country. However, Hobbes died before witnessing his dream of transforming the country, and he was excluded from being a Royalist for his stance of being anti-experimentalist and considered by many contemporaries as being an immoral monster. Hobbes vision of transforming the country and reforming philosophy was not achieved. Hobbes remained to have long and lasting influence in the Western philosophy history as he acquired a crown for being an inaugurating political science.
References
Harris, I. (2017). Some Reflections on Critical-text editing: the case of Hobbes's Leviathan.
Jones, M. (2017). “My Highest Priority Was to Absolve the Divine Laws”: The Theory and Politics of Hobbes’ Leviathan in a War of Religion. Political Studies , 65 (1), 248-263.
Oakeshott, M. (2017). Introduction to Leviathan. In Thomas Hobbes (pp. 3-76. ). Routledge
