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Thomas Hobbes

1588โ€“1679 · Early Modern (English)

The theorist of the social contract and the absolute sovereign.

Primary Source

Primary Source

...the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Original (English)

“Without a common power, the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Leviathan, ch. 13 (1651)

Biography

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Major Works

Key Concepts

Influence & Modern Scholarship

Secondary Scholarship

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Connections

Thinkers in conversation with Thomas Hobbes:

Thinker

Machiavelli

Thinker

Rawls

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