Original printing of _Leviathan_, published in 1651 and written by the English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes (d. 1679). This classic pronouncement of human nature as basically selfish, competitive, and violent emerged during a period of civil war and corresponding endemic violence in Hobbes’ homeland. For him, humanity was doomed to a life that was “nasty, brutish, and short” if left to its natural state. Hobbes concluded that the best solution was for society to be managed by a monarch with total control over his population. And this is where the Leviathan comes in. Named after a Biblical monster of utmost strength, the Leviathan represented the power of an absolute monarchy, like a beast so fierce it could force all inhabitants to obey his will. The frontspiece illustrated here is famously innovative in Western art, showing the state as masses of bodies who make up part of the government, but clearly powered by the giant head of the beast/monarch. Morgan library.
