Thomas Hobbes' view on the subject of power in "Leviathan"

Abstract

Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) was one of the outstanding representatives of English materialism in the seventeenth century (Duncan, 2021), who "systematized Francis Bacon's materialism" (Marx & Engels, 2004, p. 196). At the same time, he applied the principle of mechanism to the socio-political field (Hobbes, 2019, p. 3). In the work on politics, "Leviathan," the main work expresses quite fully the content which is the essence of the political thought of Thomas Hobbes.The state and power, including power in Leviathan, were formed under the influence of the English revolution and civil war. From the loss and suffering caused by the "[w]ar of everyone against everyone" and "man and man are wolves" caused by civil war, Hobbes established the theory of Social contract. That is, in the process of transitioning from the natural state to the civil state, individuals agree to transfer power to the supreme being with incomparable power in order to ensure peace, stability, and security. The powerful, supreme being was described by Hobbes with the image of Leviathan, a sea monster of incomparable power, described in the Christian Bible. The power, responsibility of the supreme, and the relationship between the supreme and the citizens analyzed by Hobbes in "Leviathan" have so far remained topical, leaving valuable lessons for the formation of reasonable political space for socio-economic development.