Why people recommend it
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes is a foundational work of political philosophy that examines the inherent nature of human beings and argues for the necessity of a strong, centralized authority to maintain social order. Hobbes wrote the treatise as a royalist who was forced to flee to France during the turmoil of the English Civil War, shaping a perspective that views human life in a state of nature as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Over the years, the text has been widely referenced across podcasts such as the Lex Fridman Podcast, Modern Wisdom, and The Joe Rogan Experience to explain historical political transitions and philosophical cynicism. Commentators like John Mearsheimer and Alex O’Connor have analyzed Hobbes's arguments, explaining that his framework views the creation of a sovereign state—the titular Leviathan—as the ultimate mechanism to prevent individuals from engaging in endless, destructive competition and mutual destruction. Bill Thompson also referenced the philosopher to discuss the intellectual roots of the American governmental experiment. Furthermore, thinkers like Jamil Zaki have cited Hobbes's cynical view of human nature to illustrate arguments regarding why restrictive governance is sometimes perceived as necessary to curb our most destructive impulses. Ultimately, the book remains a cornerstone for discussions concerning anarchy, state power, and the historical evolution of social contract theory.
Who recommended it
- John Mearsheimer Discussed
- Bill Thompson Discussed
- Alex O’Connor Discussed
- Jamil Zaki Discussed
- Lex Fridman Discussed
- Graeme Garrard Discussed
John Mearsheimer — 2 mentions
“It's what he calls the Leviathan. And that, of course is the title of his famous book.”
“Hobbes's view is that the way to get out of this terrible situation, where individuals are competing with each other and even killing each other, is to create a state, which he calls the Leviathan. That is, of course, the title of his famous book.”
Bill Thompson — 1 mention
“You read Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan or John Locke or Montesquieu. All of them talked about this great experiment that was being set up”
Alex O’Connor — 1 mention
“Why does Thomas Hobbes write the Leviathan? Because he had to flee him being a royalist during the English Civil War. he has to flee to to France because of the English civil war and he writes this tract about how we should all submit to a to authoritarian dictator essentially”
Jamil Zaki — 1 mention
“I often think about you know one of the best encapsulations of a cynical view of Life comes from Thomas Hobbs the philosopher who in his book Leviathan said we need a restrictive government because left to our own devices human life is nasty brutish and short”
Lex Fridman — 1 mention
“The Book of Ecclesiastes states that 'it's all vanity; it's all meaningless.'”
Graeme Garrard — 1 mention
“he lived during the English Civil War and he wrote his masterpiece Leviathan in response to the English Civil Wars have traumatized him”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 3
“Do you remember Ecclesiastes 9:11? No time and chance happens to them all.”
“I mean, there are verses in Ecclesiastes that talk about repetition throughout time, but there's always that same driving force and that element that created the Soviet Union and many other nightmares before and after it.”
“It is part of a famous phrase written by the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his book 'Leviathan.'”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
- An Inquiry concerning human understanding;
- Better Never to Have Been
- Bible
- Educating Intuition
- Existentialism Is a Humanism
- Galileo's Error
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
“And if enough people—there's a whole book in the Jewish Bible called Ecclesiastes that basically makes this point!”
“Like nature really has it out for you, um, and if you're unprotected in a state of nature like it, you know, the old, the old thing is you know life and state of nature is, is is is what is it nasty, brutish and short, poor, solitary, nasty, brutish and short, Hobbes, yeah, exactly. And so so look technology,”