ILI-Q "Critic" Ω Omega

Thomas Hobbes

Philosopher · British · 17th c.

English philosopher (1588–1679). In Leviathan (1651) he argued that "the state of nature is the war of all against all" and developed a powerful theory of the sovereign state based on social contract theory. His argument for absolute sovereignty to prevent the chaos of civil war became the cornerstone of modern political theory. A thinker of enduring influence whose pessimism about human nature reads as prescient in every age of political crisis.