In his dedicatory preface to Leviathan Hobbes wrote: ‘in a way beset with those that contend on one side for too great Liberty, and on the other side for too much Authority, ‘tis hard to passe between the points of both unwounded’. To what extent do you think Leviathan successfully balances the competing claims of authority and liberty?
Readings
Primary
Hobbes, Leviathan (any edition). Relevant sections: chapters 11,13,14,16, Book II (Of
Commonwealth) esp. chapters 17-22.
Secondary
Arendt, Hannah, The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York: Harcourt Jovanovich, 1973), pp.
139-147.
Judd Owen, J. ‘The Tolerant Leviathan: Hobbes and the Paradox of Liberalism’, Polity, Vol. 37,
No. 1 (Jan., 2005), pp. 130-148.
Ryan, Alan. ‘Hobbes and Individualism’, in G.J.A. Rogers and A. Ryan (eds.) Perspectives on
Thomas Hobbes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988).
Tarlton, Charles D., ‘to avoyd the present stroke of death:’ Despotical Dominion, Force, and
Legitimacy in Hobbes’s Leviathan’, Philosophy, Vol. 74, Issue 2, March 1999, pp 221 – 245.
Van Mill, David, ‘Civil Liberty in Hobbes’s Commonwealth’, Australian Journal of Political
Science, Mar 2002, Vol. 37 Issue 1, pp. 21-38.
Walter, Ryan, ‘Hobbes, Liberalism, and Political Technique’, The European Legacy: Towards
new Paradigms, Vol. 16, issue 1, 2011, pp. 53-69.
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