This new edition of Hobbe's masterpiece is uniquely suited to meet the needs of both student and scholar. It offers a brilliant introduction by Edwin Curley, modernised spelling and punctuation of the text, and a key annotative feature found in no other edition: the inclusion, along with historical and interpretive notes, of the most significant variants between the English version of 1651 and the Latin version of 1668. A glossary of seventeenth century English terms and indexes of persons, subjects, and scriptural passages help make this the most thoughtfully conceived edition of Leviathan available.
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Editorial Reviews
From Scientific American
Plainly the best edition of Leviathan. Superbly edited and indexed, with footnote passages from the Latin edition, a helpful glossary, biographical and autobiographical material, and a translation of Hobbes on the Nicene Creed, it will be an indispensable study tool. Curley's introduction is masterly.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
A scholar's edition at a student price! --Harvey Mansfield, Harvard University
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 75 people found the following review helpful
By J. Anderson
Format:Paperback
There are lots of editions of Leviathan around, so why buy this one? The things the editor, Ed Curley, has done to make this edition accessible yet scholarly, like:
1. Updated spelling and punctuation. Although I personally miss Hobbes' original spelling (see the Penguin edition for that), as a teacher I appreciate Ed's making it easier for beginners and ESL students to read Hobbes' words.
2. Index. Most editions do not have one.
3. Glossary. Hobbes used many terms that are now archaic, and Ed's brief but clear glossary helps clarify the text.
4. Ed's Introduction. Curley is one of the most careful and knowledgeable commentators on Hobbes, and he briefly but expertly introduces some of the major themes of the book.
5. Latin variants. Hobbes wrote Leviathan in English and in Latin, and there are some interesting differences between the two versions. Ed presents many of these in the footnotes, plus he includes English translations of the Appendices of the Latin version.
1. Updated spelling and punctuation. Although I personally miss Hobbes' original spelling (see the Penguin edition for that), as a teacher I appreciate Ed's making it easier for beginners and ESL students to read Hobbes' words.
2. Index. Most editions do not have one.
3. Glossary. Hobbes used many terms that are now archaic, and Ed's brief but clear glossary helps clarify the text.
4. Ed's Introduction. Curley is one of the most careful and knowledgeable commentators on Hobbes, and he briefly but expertly introduces some of the major themes of the book.
5. Latin variants. Hobbes wrote Leviathan in English and in Latin, and there are some interesting differences between the two versions. Ed presents many of these in the footnotes, plus he includes English translations of the Appendices of the Latin version.
57 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of the few books in western thought that cannot recieve enough praise. It is all at the same time a compilation of classical and medieval thought, a biting commentary and critique of 17th century Europe (England in particular), an exploration of philosophy as science, and to top it all off the first truly modern work of political philosophy. This is one of those works that anyone who truly wants to call themselves educated must read, whether their focus of studies is philosophy, politics, literature, science or even mathematics.
The fundamental nature of this work is to construct a reasoned materialistic account of human behavior starting from basic definitions and postulates (very similar to geometry). From these basic principles Hobbes constructs an account of human physchology based on human desires which then culminates in man's need to leave the natural state of the world into the constructed society, which Hobbes calls the leviathan. I cannot even attempt to give a summation of the steps of Hobbes's argument here that would do him justice, but suffice it to say that Hobbes's conclusion is that in order to be happy and safe man must give up his rights to a strong soveriegn. This is a conclusion that may not look modern or attractive at all to most readers, but Hobbes's reasonong is so clear and detailed that it forces the reader to, if not agree with all of his principles, at least take them very seriously. This is one of those books that forces one to reaxamine all of their assumptions about the world. Hobbes is also one of those misunderstood authors who are portrayed as being cold and ruthless, but are simply trying to provide their readers with an accurate and analytic account of humanities problems and hopefully providing solutions.
If all of this hasn't scared you away yet I do have to say that Leviathan is not an easy book to read. Its thought is difficult and its language is archaic, but for those who are willing to accept the work this book can be very interesting and rewarding. Hobbes might be a dense writer, but unlike many philosophical writers, he is a very clear and concise and often surprisingly witty and wry.
There are two editons that I recommend. The first is the Hackett edition. Not only does it take the liberty of changing the veried spellings of Hobbes's 17th century english, but it also includes textual variances from the earlier Latin edition of the work. Some of these variants are significant and should be takin into consideration by the serious student. The other is the Cambridge Student Edition, which is the edition I used because I'm one of those students that enjoy reading the early english texts with their strange spellings. The disadvantage of this edition is that it does not include the latin variations. The introductions and suplementary material in both of these editions are fine, but my personal favorite is the introduction written by Michael Oakeshott which can be fond in a collection of his essays entitled, "Hobbes on Civil Association". Another work which greatly elucidates some of Hobbes's strong almost vehement reactions to anything democratic is Hobbes's "Behemoth" in which he provides his account of the English Civil War. If you are really interested in Hobbes I also highly recommend his work "De Cive". Hobbes is hard, but he is unavoidable for anyone interested in understanding our modern world and our world in general. You may even find that, like myself, you just can't get enough of Hobbes.
The fundamental nature of this work is to construct a reasoned materialistic account of human behavior starting from basic definitions and postulates (very similar to geometry). From these basic principles Hobbes constructs an account of human physchology based on human desires which then culminates in man's need to leave the natural state of the world into the constructed society, which Hobbes calls the leviathan. I cannot even attempt to give a summation of the steps of Hobbes's argument here that would do him justice, but suffice it to say that Hobbes's conclusion is that in order to be happy and safe man must give up his rights to a strong soveriegn. This is a conclusion that may not look modern or attractive at all to most readers, but Hobbes's reasonong is so clear and detailed that it forces the reader to, if not agree with all of his principles, at least take them very seriously. This is one of those books that forces one to reaxamine all of their assumptions about the world. Hobbes is also one of those misunderstood authors who are portrayed as being cold and ruthless, but are simply trying to provide their readers with an accurate and analytic account of humanities problems and hopefully providing solutions.
If all of this hasn't scared you away yet I do have to say that Leviathan is not an easy book to read. Its thought is difficult and its language is archaic, but for those who are willing to accept the work this book can be very interesting and rewarding. Hobbes might be a dense writer, but unlike many philosophical writers, he is a very clear and concise and often surprisingly witty and wry.
There are two editons that I recommend. The first is the Hackett edition. Not only does it take the liberty of changing the veried spellings of Hobbes's 17th century english, but it also includes textual variances from the earlier Latin edition of the work. Some of these variants are significant and should be takin into consideration by the serious student. The other is the Cambridge Student Edition, which is the edition I used because I'm one of those students that enjoy reading the early english texts with their strange spellings. The disadvantage of this edition is that it does not include the latin variations. The introductions and suplementary material in both of these editions are fine, but my personal favorite is the introduction written by Michael Oakeshott which can be fond in a collection of his essays entitled, "Hobbes on Civil Association". Another work which greatly elucidates some of Hobbes's strong almost vehement reactions to anything democratic is Hobbes's "Behemoth" in which he provides his account of the English Civil War. If you are really interested in Hobbes I also highly recommend his work "De Cive". Hobbes is hard, but he is unavoidable for anyone interested in understanding our modern world and our world in general. You may even find that, like myself, you just can't get enough of Hobbes.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Abyssalmang
Format:Paperback
Many people when talking about philosophy pose the question, who is the most misunderstood philosopher in history? The most often heard candidate I hear is "Nietzsche." Though since Bertrand Russell's rather ill informed expose on him in A HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY, I can say Nietzsche has had quite a good public relations campaign in the last half century or so since. There are a few philosophers who history still hasn't given an adequate reevaluation, Hobbes is one such philosopher.
Often overlooked or belittled because of his political philosophy which has taken precedent over everything else he has done. For that being his most remembered contribution to philosophy, you think people would get his views on it right. No such luck for Hobbes, he is even widely misunderstood in the one area he is most remembered for.
Hobbes became interested in philosophy much later in life than most. He disputed a well known aspect of Euclidean geometry to a friend and was quickly rebuked with a proof of what he disputed. Rather then being dismayed, Hobbes was amazed by the power of reason to change a persons mind so definitively. He quickly became immersed in the accumulated knowledge of his era.
Other than political philosophy, Hobbes was one of the first people to formulate the idea of psychological egoism. He was the first of his era to have a now commonly held view of humans as complex biological machines. The general philosophical idea wasn't new but he gave the best exposition of the problem of compositional identity in his "Ship of Theseus" metaphor. An undercurrent of his philosophy which was radical at the time and still radical to this day, is his emphasis on materialism something we wouldn't see again in philosophy until David Hume a century or so later. Although he firmly held to materialistic views, Hobbes was one of the few of this early era of Science, then called natural philosophy to have a critical eye towards the methodology, while still contributing and putting his own ideas forward. In the history of the philosophy of science, Hobbes was the first to put forward the problem of instruments. An idea that can be summed up as, "are we discovering things with our instruments or manufacturing them?" A problem we still cant get around to some degree and that has plagued science based on complex instruments ever since.
Hobbes has had many contributions outside of political philosophy that are still important today. In this book he does focus on political philosophy though and his position though commonly stated as being thus: Since life without government is nasty brutish in short, we should have an absolute ruler with no caveats or further justification. Hobbes didn't believe in absolute rulers and he didn't exclude himself from being a party to psychological egoism. He saw government as a necessary evil, but still saw that it had its drawbacks. That is why he didn't believe rulers were chosen by divine providence or through any other means then materialistic forces such as popular consensus and his formulation of the social contract. He was the first person to put forward the idea of a social contract, or a secular approach to how governments form. He thought unjust rulers were tyrants and that they should be resisted as such. He thought Aristocratic and church interests separate a nation and as such they and their interests should be separated from the sovereignty much more than they were in his time. Hobbes without saying put forward the earliest formulation I know of between positive and negative liberty.
He heavily criticized miracles and supernatural forces and believed god if existing was a naturalistic being within the same universe as us. More than half of this book is dedicated to refuting or extremely deflating super-natural ideas. His views were far from complacent or in the line of the status quo and as such he drew criticism and even talk of death threats and excommunications from virtually every corner of political power over his views in Leviathan. He was also barred from writing in the United Kingdom and excluded from lucrative academic posts and groups.
Berkeley is often touted as the extreme road taken on the mental half of Cartesian dualism. Although Hobbes came first I think he can be similarly seen as the extreme half of the materialist side of the coin. Seeing as idealism ultimately led to Hegel. It is Funny that Hegel and Hobbes philosophy though on two totally opposite sides of the philosophical dualistic road led to a lot of the same conclusions. A super entity that represents the people, an approach to knowledge that takes a historical account and an ambiguous redundant god that seems to take a novelty place in both philosophies and unwavering support of kings instead of the other governmental options.
Leviathan is an important, but hard read. Not for those new to philosophy or political science. I would recommend it to those who have done their homework and who can really appreciate and see that Hobbes is not as bad as history has made him out to be. His political philosophy has ultimately been proven to be historically inaccurate and to an extent irrelevant today. There are however aspects of it, that we use and owe to Hobbes to this day.
Often overlooked or belittled because of his political philosophy which has taken precedent over everything else he has done. For that being his most remembered contribution to philosophy, you think people would get his views on it right. No such luck for Hobbes, he is even widely misunderstood in the one area he is most remembered for.
Hobbes became interested in philosophy much later in life than most. He disputed a well known aspect of Euclidean geometry to a friend and was quickly rebuked with a proof of what he disputed. Rather then being dismayed, Hobbes was amazed by the power of reason to change a persons mind so definitively. He quickly became immersed in the accumulated knowledge of his era.
Other than political philosophy, Hobbes was one of the first people to formulate the idea of psychological egoism. He was the first of his era to have a now commonly held view of humans as complex biological machines. The general philosophical idea wasn't new but he gave the best exposition of the problem of compositional identity in his "Ship of Theseus" metaphor. An undercurrent of his philosophy which was radical at the time and still radical to this day, is his emphasis on materialism something we wouldn't see again in philosophy until David Hume a century or so later. Although he firmly held to materialistic views, Hobbes was one of the few of this early era of Science, then called natural philosophy to have a critical eye towards the methodology, while still contributing and putting his own ideas forward. In the history of the philosophy of science, Hobbes was the first to put forward the problem of instruments. An idea that can be summed up as, "are we discovering things with our instruments or manufacturing them?" A problem we still cant get around to some degree and that has plagued science based on complex instruments ever since.
Hobbes has had many contributions outside of political philosophy that are still important today. In this book he does focus on political philosophy though and his position though commonly stated as being thus: Since life without government is nasty brutish in short, we should have an absolute ruler with no caveats or further justification. Hobbes didn't believe in absolute rulers and he didn't exclude himself from being a party to psychological egoism. He saw government as a necessary evil, but still saw that it had its drawbacks. That is why he didn't believe rulers were chosen by divine providence or through any other means then materialistic forces such as popular consensus and his formulation of the social contract. He was the first person to put forward the idea of a social contract, or a secular approach to how governments form. He thought unjust rulers were tyrants and that they should be resisted as such. He thought Aristocratic and church interests separate a nation and as such they and their interests should be separated from the sovereignty much more than they were in his time. Hobbes without saying put forward the earliest formulation I know of between positive and negative liberty.
He heavily criticized miracles and supernatural forces and believed god if existing was a naturalistic being within the same universe as us. More than half of this book is dedicated to refuting or extremely deflating super-natural ideas. His views were far from complacent or in the line of the status quo and as such he drew criticism and even talk of death threats and excommunications from virtually every corner of political power over his views in Leviathan. He was also barred from writing in the United Kingdom and excluded from lucrative academic posts and groups.
Berkeley is often touted as the extreme road taken on the mental half of Cartesian dualism. Although Hobbes came first I think he can be similarly seen as the extreme half of the materialist side of the coin. Seeing as idealism ultimately led to Hegel. It is Funny that Hegel and Hobbes philosophy though on two totally opposite sides of the philosophical dualistic road led to a lot of the same conclusions. A super entity that represents the people, an approach to knowledge that takes a historical account and an ambiguous redundant god that seems to take a novelty place in both philosophies and unwavering support of kings instead of the other governmental options.
Leviathan is an important, but hard read. Not for those new to philosophy or political science. I would recommend it to those who have done their homework and who can really appreciate and see that Hobbes is not as bad as history has made him out to be. His political philosophy has ultimately been proven to be historically inaccurate and to an extent irrelevant today. There are however aspects of it, that we use and owe to Hobbes to this day.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Arguably the most important work of political philosophy ever written...
Hobbes's LEVIATHAN is not only the most important work of political philosophy ever written in English, it is the work - even more than the writings of Francis Bacon - that kicked... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Robert Moore
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant -- Required Reading
Hobbes is one of the greatest thinkers in history. The educated man or woman should read and study "Leviathan." It is particularly relevant in these perilous times.
Published 4 months ago by Everyman
4.0 out of 5 stars
Adequate Edition-Good Value
With such a book, any comments must not be about Hobbes, since a criticism of the philosopher's position is rather out of place given the present context-that is, a review to... Read more
Published 11 months ago by mp
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hugely important and hugely boring
t's not hard to see why this is considered so important. He goes one step beyond Machiavelli and just totally blows apart the last remaining shreds of virtue-derived political... Read more
Published 14 months ago by jafrank
3.0 out of 5 stars
(White) Man against (White) man in Nature
The Leviatian is one of Thomas Hobbes' most famous political tracts. It is an important part of the (white) Western tradition of political science and political philosophy. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Herbert L Calhoun
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nasty, Brutish, and Short
In the State of Nature that is. Hobbes was an educator for the elite his entire adult life and produced this masterpiece while he was into his sixties. Read more
Published on November 16, 2010 by Dionysos
5.0 out of 5 stars
On the Hackett edition (with some comparisons)
Hobbes wrote in English, so when it comes to English editions, translation is not an issue. For that reason, there are several good English editions of Leviathan out there. Read more
Published on April 8, 2010 by John Buridan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Hackett's Leviathan
It's clear that a lot of effort has gone into making this volume the spectacular piece of scholarship it now is. Read more
Published on January 27, 2010 by Ryan S. Mease
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essay; Absolute Sovereignty can not offer Perpetual Peace
Why Absolute Sovereignty Can Not Offer Perpetual Peace
-On the Desires of Men
In the Leviathan, Hobbes brings forward the theory that Commonwealths arise... Read more
-On the Desires of Men
In the Leviathan, Hobbes brings forward the theory that Commonwealths arise... Read more
Published on June 6, 2005 by Silo 51
5.0 out of 5 stars
Say yes to British philosophy!
Hobbes is a misunderstood philosopher. He envisaged that executive power would be based on the will of the people who allow it to be exercised. Read more
Published on February 7, 2005 by AussieK
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 75
books:
See all 75 books this book cites
- The Nicomachean Ethics (Oxford World's Classics) by Aristotle on 6 pages
- Early Christian Creeds by J.N.D. Kelly on 4 pages
- Divine Right and Democracy: An Anthology of Political Writing in Stuart England by David Wootton on page 25, page 66, and page 222
- Theological-Political Treatise: Gebhardt Edition by Benedictus de Spinoza on page 322, and page 457
- A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England by Thomas Hobbes on page 46, and page 79
See all 75 books this book cites
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