Ex Libris: Annotating Books from the William A. Clark Memorial Library

Contextualizing Leviathan: A Behemoth in Many Regards

Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan remains a staple for study in contemporary political philosophy and has maintained the extraordinary impact that the book possessed in its release in 1651. The book is one of the earliest examples for social contract theory and was shrouded by a volatile state of England in the seventeenth century. The text being studied, A Brief Survey of the Dangerous and pernicious Errors to Church and State In Mr. Hobbes’ Book Entitled Leviathan, is just one representation of how England reacted to his ideas in what is over a 300 page text performing what the title states itself; an analysis of Hobbes’ writing. The historical analysis being performed here is not aimed at delineating and analyzing the intellectual discourse of either of the two texts, rather, is aimed at analyzing the context of which the texts were written in. Specifically, contextualizing the sociopolitical state of seventeenth century England and how it responded to Leviathan’s release. To do so, it is still necessary to lay out the basic foundations of Leviathan’s ideas; Hobbes describes the structure for society and a legitimate government to ultimately take shape in an absolute sovereign state. He argues that humans naturally would fall into an anarchic state if left to their own devices, and should therefore subscribe to a social contract in which individuals relieve their power to the sovereign state in order to maintain peace. “Leviathan” is a biblical reference to a sea monster and Hobbes uses this creature as a metaphor for his perception of the ideal state, a conglomerate powerhouse supported by the many individuals who have transferred their power through the social contract. The writing of such ideas took place in the turmoil of the English Civil War which consisted of multiple wars from the year 1642 to 1651. Division was largely driven by religious differences and conflict regarding the power of the English parliament. Looking at the conflict from one dimension, the two sides are labeled separately between Royalists and Parliamentarians, however pertinent to other historical civil wars, the line separating the two was severely blurred in that communities and family members found themselves against each other. The reasons for picking one’s side varied between religious convictions, local rivalries, loyalty to the king, and economic struggles. Beyond these variations, choice in the matter was largely a luxury in that most were obliged to follow the allegiance of their landlords. Multiple civil wars took place during these years with the Parliamentarians securing victory and solidifying an end to absolute monarchical rule in England. The monarchy would still be reinstated with King Charles II, however the powers relative to the English parliament were severely neutered. Both Hobbes and the writer of the presented text, Edward Hyde, were proponents of King Charles I with Hobbes being an extreme Royalist while Hyde served as the chief advisor to him during the First English Civil War(1942-1946). Edward Hyde, the first Earl of Clarendon, was loyal to the monarch but remained uninvolved and served as a diplomat in the later civil wars. That loyalty is affirmed by the opening pages of the text giving more than generous praise to Charles II given that this piece was written in 1676. Delving deeper into the second page, Hyde refers to Leviathan as “evil doctrines”, and it was in 1666 that the English parliament ordered for Leviathan to be investigated because of suspicion of atheism in his writings which Hobbes promptly responded with burning some of his papers to avoid being burned as a heretic. While some bishops suggested Hobbes to be burned at the stake, no actions



Works Cited

Wormald, B. H. G. 1945. “How Hyde Became a Royalist.” The Cambridge Historical Journal 8 (2): 65–92. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3020612?seq=28#metadata_info_tab_contents.

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