- 01Origin of sense and sensible qualities
- 02Scholastic doctrine of species
Leviathan
Social contract, sovereignty, and political order.
27Chapters
154Lessons
563Topics
Certificate of completion included
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
Skills this course leaves you with.
- Explain Hobbes’s account of sense, imagination, and reasoning as foundations for knowledge
- Analyze the role of speech, names, and language in shaping understanding and error
- Describe the passions, voluntary motion, and their influence on human action
- Evaluate Hobbes’s concepts of power, dignity, honour, and worth
- Interpret the relationship between prudence, science, belief, and judgment in Leviathan
- Assess how Hobbes connects human manners and desires to civil obedience and conflict
Curriculum
The full table of contents.
Every chapter, every lesson, every topic — laid out before you enroll. Click any chapter to expand it.
- Chapters
- 27
- Lessons
- 154
- Topics
- 563
- 01Decaying Sense and Imagination
- 02Memory as Obscured Sense
- 01Imagination, memory, and compound fancies
- 02Dreams as imaginations during sleep
- 01Dreams as bodily distempers
- 02Apparitions, visions, and superstition
- 01Understanding
- 01Unguided train of thoughts
- 01Trayne of regulated thoughts
- 02Remembrance
- 03Prudence and foresight
- 01Prudence and signs
- 02Conjecture of the time past
- 03Speech, thought, and finite imagination
- 01Limits of conceiving God and bodies
- 01Invention of letters and speech
- 02Babel and the diversity of tongues
- 03General use of speech
- 01Special Uses of Speech and Their Abuses
- 02Proper, Common, and Universal Names
- 01Words as registers of universal reasoning
- 02Numbering and arithmetic without speech
- 03Truth and falsehood in affirmations
- 01Definitions as the basis of knowledge
- 02Subject to Names and the four kinds of naming
- 01Positive names for bodies, properties, fancies, and speech
- 02Negative names and their use in reckoning
- 03Insignificant words from undefined or contradictory names
- 01Understanding as conception caused by speech
- 02Inconstant names in discourse
- 01Reason as addition and subtraction
- 02Reason defined as reckoning
- 03Right reason and error in judgment
- 01Right reason as judge in disputes
- 02The use and end of reason
- 03Error and absurdity in reasoning
- 01Causes of absurdity
- 01Science as knowledge of consequences
- 02Reason, speech, and the limits of common life
- 03False rules and the danger of misreasoning
- 04Perspicuous words and exact definitions
- 05Prudence and sapience
- 01Prudence and sapience compared
- 02Signs of science and prudence
- 01Vital and animal motion
- 02Endeavour, appetite, desire, and aversion
- 01Appetites, aversions, and contempt
- 02Good, evil, and their Latin distinctions
- 01Delight and displeasure as appearances of good and evil
- 02Pleasures of sense and pleasures of the mind
- 03Names of the simple passions
- 01Passions named by desire and aversion
- 01Admiration and glorying
- 02Sudden glory and laughter
- 03Sudden dejection and weeping
- 04Shame, impudence, and pity
- 01Cruelty, emulation, and envy
- 02Deliberation
- 03The will as the last appetite
- 01Forms of speech expressing passions
- 02Apparent good and apparent evil
- 03Felicity as continual success
- 01Praise, magnification, and felicity
- 01Judgement, doubt, and conditional knowledge
- 01Conscience as witness and opinion
- 02Belief and faith in a person
- 03Faith in Scripture, prophets, and historians
- 01Intellectual virtue defined
- 02Natural wit, fancy, judgment, and discretion
- 01Fancy, judgement, and discretion in discourse
- 01Prudence and practical judgment
- 02Craft and shifting deceit
- 03Acquired wit, reason, and the passions
- 04Desire, wit, and indifference
- 01Craft and acquired wit
- 02Giddinesse and madnesse
- 03Rage and fury
- 04Melancholy and causelesse fears
- 01Passion, wine, and the causes of madness
- 02Jewish and Gentile beliefs about possession
- 03Scripture, natural causes, and Christ's healings
- 01Insignificant Speech as absurdity
- 01Knowledge of fact and science
- 02History and philosophy as registers of knowledge
- 03Natural philosophy and its branches
- 01Consequences from the Accidents of Politique Bodies
- 01Forms of power: natural and instrumental
- 02Sources of power in society
- 01Worth as price of power
- 02Dignity as public worth
- 03Honouring and dishonouring
- 01Natural signs of honour and dishonour
- 02Civil honours and sovereign titles
- 03Honour as a sign of power
- 01Signs of honour and dishonour
- 01Hereditary scutchions and coats of arms
- 02Titles of Honour
- 01Titles of Honour and Barons
- 02Worthinesse as Fitness or Aptitude
- 01Meaning of manners as civil qualities
- 02Restless desire of power
- 03Competition, contention, and war
- 01Civil obedience from ease, fear, and arts of peace
- 02Love of virtue from praise and fame
- 03Hatred from unrepaid benefits
- 01Conscience of deserving hatred
- 02Promptness to hurt from fear
- 03Distrust of their own wit
- 04Vain undertaking from vain-glory
- 05Ambition from opinion of sufficiency
- 06Irresolution from valuing small matters
- 01Confidence in others from ignorance of wisdom, kindness, and military reputation
- 02Reliance on others from ignorance of natural causes and words
- 03Adherence to custom from ignorance of right and wrong
- 01Adherence to private men from ignorance of causes of peace
- 02Credulity from ignorance of nature
- 03Curiosity and natural religion from care of future time
- 01Fear of Invisible Things as the Seed of Religion
- 02Lawmakers and the Shaping of Religion
- 01Religion in man alone
- 02Desire to know causes
- 03Beginning, sequence, and anxiety of the future
- 01Fear of invisible powers
- 02Invisible agents as incorporeal spirits
- 03Unknown causes and imagined effects
- 01Honouring invisible powers like men
- 02Natural seeds of religion
- 03Religion shaped by human and divine culture
- 01Gentile deification of natural things and human qualities
- 02Gentile divination and omens
- 03Political design of religion by lawgivers
- 01Gentile religion as civil policy
- 02The true religion and God's kingdom
- 03The causes of change in religion
- 01Impossibilities and contradictions in religion
- 02Scandalous conduct and private ends
- 03Miracles as proof of divine calling
- 01Failure of miracles and justice weakens faith
- 02Priestly corruption and religious change
- 01Equality of body and mind
- 02Equality of hope and diffidence
- 01Three causes of quarrel
- 02Warre without a common power
- 03Incommodities of such a warre
- 01The misery of life without civil society
- 02Evidence from fear and armed behavior
- 03War, law, and injustice
- 01Passions that incline men to peace
- 01Right of nature and liberty
- 02Law of nature and universal right
- 01The fundamental law of nature
- 02The second law of nature and laying down rights
- 03Renouncing or transferring rights, obligation, and injustice
- 01Renouncing or transferring right
- 02Alienable rights and self-preservation
- 03Contract, pact, and covenant
- 01Free-gift and signs of contract
- 01Promise as equivalent to covenant
- 02Merit in contracts and free gifts
- 03Mutual trust covenants and civil enforcement
- 01Covenants invalidated by later fear
- 02Right to the end includes the means
- 03Covenants with beasts and with God
- 04Possible and future matter of covenant
- 05How covenants are made void
- 01Covenants extorted by fear
- 02Prior covenant voids later promise
- 03No covenant not to defend oneself
- 04No obligation to accuse oneself
- 01The end and form of an oath
- 02No oath but by God
- 03An oath adds nothing to the obligation
- 01The Third Law of Nature: keeping covenants
- 02Justice, injustice, and property under commonwealth
- 03Justice not contrary to reason
- 01Justice, injustice, and covenant-breaking
- 01Keeping covenant as a law of nature
- 02Covenants not discharged by the vice of the person to whom made
- 03Justice of men and justice of actions
- 01Justice of manners and justice of actions
- 02Nothing done by consent can be injury
- 03Commutative justice and distributive justice
- 01The Fourth Law of Nature, Gratitude
- 02Mutuall accommodation, or Compleasance
- 03Facility To Pardon
- 04In Revenges, Men Respect Onely The Future Good
- 01Pardon and revenge for future good
- 02Against Contumely
- 03Against Pride
- 04Against Arrogance
- 01Equity and distributive justice
- 02Equal use of things common
- 03Lot, primogeniture, and first seizing
- 04Safe conduct for mediators
- 05Submission to arbitrement
- 01Arbitration, impartial judges, and witnesses
- 02Rule for examining the laws of nature
- 01Law of nature in foro interno and externo
- 02Eternal and easy laws of nature
- 03Natural law as true moral philosophy
- 01Theorems of reason as laws of nature
- 01Natural and artificial persons
- 02The meaning of person and personation
- 03Actor, author, and authority
- 04Covenants made by authority bind the author
- 01Covenants made by actors and representatives
- 02Authority must be shown
- 03Inanimate things and irrational persons as represented
- 01False gods and the true God as personated
- 02A multitude made one person by representation
- 03Authority of each member and plurality of voices
- 01Representatives with even numbers and negative voice
- 02Conditional authors and sureties
- 01Part II: Of Common-wealth
- 01Particular security as the end of commonwealth
- 02Why natural law cannot secure peace
- 03Why small families or few men cannot ensure safety
- 01Need for a common power to direct a multitude
- 02Why bees and ants live in society without coercion
- 01Why irrational creatures live in society without coercive power
- 02The generation of a common-wealth
- 03The definition of a common-wealth
- 01Sovereign and subject
- 02Commonwealth by institution and acquisition
- 01The act of instituting a commonwealth
- 02Subjects cannot change the form of government
- 01Sovereign power cannot be forfeited
- 02No man can protest against the major part's institution
- 01The sovereign's actions cannot be accused by subjects
- 02The sovereign's power to punish and judge for peace
- 01Judging doctrines for peace
- 02Rules of propriety and civil law
- 03Judicature and decision of controversies
- 04Making war and peace
- 05Choosing counsellors and ministers
- 01Rewarding and punishing subjects
- 02Titles of honour and order
- 03Indivisibility of sovereign rights
- 01Inseparable rights and void grants
- 02Sovereign power and honour above subjects
- 03Subjects' misery compared with civil war
- 01Subjects' self-love and resistance to taxation
- 01Three kinds of commonwealth
- 02Tyranny, oligarchy, and anarchy as misnamed governments
- 03Danger of subordinate representatives
- 01Comparison of monarchy with sovereign assemblies
- 02Elective and limited kings as ministers of sovereignty
- 01Right of Succession as artificial eternity
- 02Succession in democracy and aristocracy
- 03The present monarch's power to appoint the successor
- 01Disposition of the successor by the present possessor
- 02Succession by express words or testament
- 03Succession by custom not controlled
- 04Succession by presumption of natural affection
- 01Disposition of succession by will
- 01Wherein Different From A Common-wealth By Institution
- 01Dominion over the child by contract or education
- 02Precedent subjection of one parent to the other
- 01The Right Of Succession Followeth The Rules Of The Rights Of Possession
- 01Despoticall Dominion, How Attained · Not By The Victory, But By The Consent Of The Vanquished · Difference Between A Family And A Kingdom
- 01The Right Of Monarchy From Scripture · Soveraign Power Ought In All Common-wealths To Be Absolute
- 01Meaning of liberty and freedom
- 02What it means to be free
- 03Fear and liberty as consistent
- 01Liberty and Necessity Consistent
- 02Artificial Bonds, or Covenants
- 03Liberty of Subjects Consisteth in Liberty From Covenants
- 01Liberty of subjects and sovereign punishment
- 02Liberty of commonwealths versus private men
- 01The liberty praised by writers as sovereign liberty
- 02How the liberty of a subject is measured
- 01Liberty to defend one’s own body
- 02No duty to harm oneself
- 03Limits of obedience in self-incrimination and self-destruction
- 04Military service and refusal to fight
- 01Voluntary military service and self-defense
- 02Liberties that depend on the silence of the law
- 03Suing the sovereign under precedent law
- 04Void grants that disable public safety
- 01Obligation lasts only while protection lasts
- 02Captivity and foreign detention
- 03Relinquishing sovereignty and unknown heirs
- 04Banishment and travel under licence
- 01Sovereign rendered subject to another
- 01Regular and irregular systems of people
- 02Political and private subordinate systems
- 03Limits on the representative power in bodies politic
- 01Limits of representative power from letters and law
- 02Unauthorized acts of a single representative
- 03Assembly decrees beyond warrant
- 04Borrowing and contractual liability of a single representative
- 01Liability for debts and contracts in a representative body
- 02Protestation against decrees of political bodies
- 01Government of a Province by Assembly
- 02Rights and limits of colonial and local assemblies
- 03Disputes between a member and the body politic
- 01Assembly of all members for foreign trade
- 02Merchant corporations as double monopolies
- 03Members' right to attend consultations and accounts
- 01Liability, taxes, and fines of a body politic
- 02Deputies as a temporary body politic for counsel
- 01Regular private bodies as families
- 02Unlawful private bodies and irregular leagues
- 01Secret cabals and private influence
- 02Private families, factions, and irregular assemblies
- 01Lawful and unlawful assemblies
- 02Systemes and assemblies as bodily analogies
- 01Public ministers and their authority
- 02General administration of a dominion or province
- 01Special administration of the commonwealth
- 02Instruction of the people
- 03Judicature and judges
- 01Courts of justice and final judgment
- 02Public ministers for instruction and judicature
- 03Public ministers for execution
- 04Public ministers abroad and diplomatic offices
- 01Counsellors as non-public persons
- 01The nourishment of a commonwealth
- 02The right of distribution of commodities
- 01Arbitrary distribution of property by the sovereign
- 02Subject property and sovereign dominion
- 01The Public Wealth Cannot Be Dieted
- 02Foreign Trade and Transfer of Property Under Sovereign Authority
- 01Money as the blood of a commonwealth
- 02Conduits and ways of money to public use
- 01Colonies as the procreation of a common-wealth
- 02Metropolis, emancipation, and provincial dependence
- 01Counsell, command, and exhortation
- 01Counsell and punishment
- 02Exhortation and dehortation as pressed counsel
- 01Commands and counsels in Scripture
- 02Qualities of a good counsellour
- 03Why private counsel is better than assemblies
- 01Definition of civil law
- 02The sovereign as legislator
- 01The sovereign as sole legislator
- 02The sovereign not subject to civil law
- 03Custom, equity, and the relation of natural and civil law
- 01Civil law and natural law as parts of one law
- 02Provincial laws and sovereign authority
- 03Foolish opinions about legislative power
- 01Reason as the Measure of Law
- 02Publication and Knowledge of Law
- 03Unwritten Laws as Laws of Nature
- 01Unwritten laws as laws of nature
- 02Written publication and signs of sovereign authority
- 01Verification of law versus sovereign authority
- 02Verification by judges, registers, patents, and seals
- 03Interpretation of law and sovereign intent
- 01Sovereign authority and legal interpretation
- 02Need for interpretation in written and unwritten law
- 03Writers versus authentic interpretation
- 04Judge's viva voce sentence as authentic interpretation
- 01Judges may depart from prior sentences
- 02Natural equity versus precedent and legal presumptions
- 01Meaning of written laws and judicial interpretation
- 02Difference between the letter and sentence of the law
- 01Abilities Required in a Judge
- 02Divisions of Law
- 01Roman sources of civil law
- 02Natural and positive law
- 03Humane positive law: distributive and penal
- 01Divine positive laws and their declaration
- 02Assurance of revelation and obligation to obey
- 03Abraham's covenant and household obedience
- 01Obedience to declared divine law
- 02Fundamental and non-fundamental laws
- 03Difference between law and right
- 01Difference Between Law and Right
- 02Difference Between a Law and a Charter
- 01Sin as contempt of the legislator
- 02Crime as an outwardly provable sin
- 01No crime without civil law or sovereign power
- 02Ignorance of natural law and civil law
- 03Ignorance of the sovereign
- 01Ignorance of the penalty and ex post facto punishment
- 02False principles of right and wrong as causes of crime
- 01Passions and false reasoning as causes of crime
- 02Total excuses from ignorance, captivity, fear, and necessity
- 03Excuses against the author and sovereign command
- 04Aggravating and extenuating circumstances in crimes
- 05Definition and source of punishment
- 06Conditions that make an act punishment
- 07Kinds of human punishment
- 08Punishment of innocents and rebels
- 09Reward as salary, grace, and fear-driven benefits
- 10Weakening a commonwealth through imperfect institution and seditious doctrines
- 11Foreign examples and classical writings as causes of rebellion
- 12Divided sovereignty and spiritual versus civil power
- 13Other diseases of the commonwealth
- 14Dissolution of the commonwealth after final victory
- 15Instruction and laws for public safety
- 16Subjects taught to avoid change, faction, and disrespect
- 17The Use of Universities
- 18Equity, Taxes, and Public Provision
- 19Good Laws: Necessity and Perspicuity
- 20Punishments and Lenity
- 21Rewards and the use of sovereign patronage
- 22Choosing able counsellors and taking advice
- 23Popular commanders and military loyalty
- 24The kingdom of God by nature
- 25Subjects in the kingdom of God
- 26God's law through reason, revelation, and prophecy
- 27God's natural and prophetic kingdom
- 28God's sovereignty from omnipotence
- 29Divine law and natural worship
- 30Attributes of divine honour
- 31Divine worship as signs of honour
- 32Natural punishments
- 33Transition to Christian commonwealth
- 34Principles of Christian politics
- 35How God speaks to men
- 36Marks of a true prophet
- 37Books of Holy Scripture
- 38Antiquity of the Pentateuch
- 39Dating the Old Testament books
- 40Dating the New Testament and church recognition
- 41The common scope of Scripture
- 42Authority of Scripture and interpretation
- 43Meanings of body and spirit in Scripture
- 44Spirit as submission and zeal
- 45Aerial bodies and apparitions
- 46Angels as messengers and visions
- 47Angels, spirits, and incorporeality
- 48Scriptural meaning of inspiration
- 49Kingdom of God as a covenant commonwealth
- 50The kingdom of God as a civil kingdom
- 51Holy, profane, and sacred things
- 52Sacraments as signs of admission and commemoration
- 53The word of God and the doctrine of religion
- 54Meanings of the Word of God
- 55Meanings of Prophet and Prophecy
- 01God's speech through dreams, visions, and angels
- 02Moses and the sovereign prophets
- 03Subordinate prophets and the seventy elders
- 04Testing and obeying prophets
- 05Miracles and their purpose
- 06False miracles, enchantments, and imposture
- 07Scriptural cautions for judging miracles
- 08Eternal life, Adam's forfeiture, and redemption in Christ
- 09Texts Concerning The Place Of Life Eternall For Beleevers
- 10The Place After Judgment, Of Those Who Were Never In The Kingdome Of God, Or Having Been In, Are Cast Out
- 11The Congregation Of Giants
- 12Lake Of Fire
- 13Utter Darknesse
- 14Gehenna and the metaphor of hell fire
- 15Tormenters and torments of hell
- 16Salvation as remission of sin and deliverance from misery
- 17The earthly place of eternal salvation
- 18Redemption and sacrifice for sin
- 19Meanings of the word church
- 20Church as a Christian commonwealth
- 21Abraham's covenant and religious authority
- 22Moses' authority and the people's consent
- 23Moses as sole sovereign under God
- 24High priestly sovereignty after Moses
- 25Kings of Israel and religious supremacy
- 26Popular misunderstanding of rightful authority
- 27The Messiah’s threefold office
- 28Christ’s kingdom not of this world
- 29Christ’s first coming and the covenant of grace
- 30Christ's kingdom as subordinate viceregent of the Father
- 31Ecclesiastical power after the Ascension
- 32The Trinity as three representations of one God
- 33The ecclesiastical power is teaching, not coercion
- 34Conscience, outward profession, and persecution
- 35Martyrs and the limits of the apostolic commission
- 36Baptism as allegiance to God's kingdom
- 37Power to forgive and retain sins
- 38Excommunication and its limits
- 39Interpretation of Scripture before Christian sovereigns
- 40Power to make Scripture law
- 41The Ten Commandments as law
- 42Mosaic and Deuteronomic law as civil sovereignty
- 43The New Testament as canon under civil authority
- 44Councils, apostolic decrees, and canonical scripture
- 45Apostolic offices and church authority
- 46Election of presbyters and bishops by congregations
- 47Deacons as ministers of the church
- 48Election of the first deacons by the congregation
- 49Ecclesiastical revenue under Moses and in the early church
- 50Civil sovereigns as supreme pastors in Christian commonwealths
- 51Christian sovereigns as supreme pastors
- 52Bellarmine's arguments on church government
- 53Peter, the rock, and the keys
- 54Papal succession and the Antichrist question
- 55Scriptural claims for papal infallibility
- 56Scriptural arguments against papal legislative power
- 57Question of superiority between the Pope and other bishops
- 01Bishops’ jurisdiction and the civil sovereign
- 02Bellarmine’s arguments against papal jurisdiction
- 03The Pope’s indirect temporal power
- 04Papal power over princes
- 05Refutation of Bellarmine's first argument
- 06Refutation of Bellarmine's second argument
- 07No spiritual commonwealth on earth
- 08Refutation of the third argument on heretical kings
- 09Bellarmine's arguments for papal power
- 10Obeying God and civil sovereigns
- 11Christian faith and the civil sovereign
- 12Faith comes by hearing
- 13Proof from the evangelists and apostles
- 14The only necessary article of Christian faith
- 15Proof from clear texts and the foundation of faith
- 16Faith in Jesus as the Christ and salvation
- 17Faith, repentance, and justification
- 18Obedience to civil sovereigns
- 19Transition to the Kingdom of Darkness
- 20Misinterpretation of Scripture and spiritual darkness
- 21The present church as Christ's kingdom
- 22Papal supremacy, clergy, and ecclesiastical privilege
- 23Consecration mistaken for conjuration
- 24Incantations in the sacraments
- 25Eternal life, death, and the soul
- 26Purgatory, exorcisms, and invocation of saints
- 27Beza’s interpretation of Christ’s kingdom
- 28Mark 9:1 and the Transfiguration
- 29Abuse of Scripture in defense of papal power
- 30Scriptural rites of consecration without exorcisms
- 31Immortality of the soul as grace, not nature
- 32Everlasting torments and the second death
- 33Texts alleged for purgatory
- 34Scriptural arguments against purgatory
- 35Daemonology and the fear of phantasms
- 36Scriptural interpretation of spirits and possession
- 37Exorcism and the decline of miraculous gifts
- 38Worship of images as idolatry
- 39What counts as an image or idol
- 40Civil worship and divine worship
- 41Meaning of idolatry in worship
- 42Scandalous worship under fear
- 43Idolatry and unauthorized worship
- 44Cherubins, the brazen serpent, and lawful images
- 45Images, saints, relics, and Roman church practices
- 46How idolatry remained in the church
- 47Canonizing saints and the title Pontifex Maximus
- 48Pagan ceremonies retained in the Church
- 49Definition of philosophy and what it excludes
- 50The rise of philosophy from leisure and commonwealths
- 51Schools of philosophy among Greeks and Jews
- 52Aristotle's influence on schools and universities
- 53Abstract essences and substantial forms
- 54Metaphysical absurdities about souls, eternity, and place
- 55Absurdities of scholastic philosophy
- 56False moral and civil doctrines
- 57Errors in political philosophy and law
- 58Language of school-divines
- 59Errors from tradition and suppression of reason
- 60Benefit of the doctrine of the church militant
- 61Roman and Presbyterian clergy
- 62Doctrines that secure clerical sovereignty
- 63Roman clergy as authors of spiritual darkness
- 64Growth and dissolution of pontifical power
- 65Papacy compared to the kingdom of fairies
- 66Human faculties and civil duties
- 67Natural law, conquest, and submission
- 68No private zeal in executions
- 69Moses and the manner of divine speech
- 70Defense of the doctrine and its publication
- 71Why ancient authorities are not cited
- 72Conclusion and return to natural philosophy
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