Tao Te Ching
Leviathan
Launching social contract theory, Leviathan parallels the writings of Zhu Xi and stands with Machiavelli's The Prince as a classic of western statecraft. It defines “legitimate government” and established the social contract theory that became the foundation for most of the Western political philosophy that followed. When first published, however, it angered both royalist and Catholic authorities and Hobbes was forced to take refuge in England where—in spike of his former student, Charles II becoming king—Parliament took action against this book and he was never again given permission to publish anything that included an ethical subject.
Quotes from Leviathan
“By art is created that great Leviathan, called a Commonwealth or State—which is but an artificial man.”
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“Curiosity—the desire to know why and how—is a lust of the mind that exceeds the short vehemence of any carnal pleasure.”
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“He that is to govern a whole nation must read in himself, not this or that particular man; but mankind itself.”
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“Hell is truth seen too late.”
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“In the first place, I put for a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ends only in death.”
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“In the nature of man we find three main causes of conflict: competition, diffidence, and the lust for approval.”
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“It can never be that war shall preserve life, and peace destroy it.”
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“Justice, equity, modesty, mercy—doing to others as we would be done to—are contrary to our natural passions that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge, and the like.”
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“Reducing democracy to ‘government by the best orator,’ political rallies and popular assemblies are as subject to evil counsel and the seduction by orators as a monarch by flatters.”
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“Wisdom is acquired, not by reading books, but but by reading people.”
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“Words are the counters of wise men, and the money of fools.”
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Quotes about Leviathan (2 quotes)
“In 1651, he published the Leviathan, it pleased no one Its rationalism offended most of the refugees, and its bitter attacks on the Catholic huh offended the French government... There is not a word in Leviathan to suggest any relation between [states] except war and conquest... Every argument that he adduces in favor of government, in so far as it is valid at all, is valid in favor of international government. So long as national States exist and fight each other, only inefficiency can preserve the human race. To improve the fighting quality of separate States without having any means of preventing war is the road to universal destruction.”
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“Modern political philosophy is often understood to begin with Thomas Hobbes's social contract theory in the Leviathan.”
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