Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence.

Thomas Hobbes is regarded as one of a handful of genuinely great political philosophers – his masterwork Leviathan (1651) changed history. The idea of a ‘social contract’ as the basis of political power is his most powerful contribution, eventually becoming the theoretical foundation of most contemporary societies. Hobbes is however a controversial philosopher in many ways. His understanding of humans as self-interested, insatiable, desiring machines, without any ‘natural’ sense of morality, remains unacceptable to many. Others consider Hobbes as the arch realist, who is not blinded by religion or idealism, enabling him to understand humans as they are rather than as we would like them to be.

Hobbes proposes that the primary role of the state is to provide its citizens with security. Liberal theorists believe that too much freedom is forfeited to the state in doing so. This is referred to as the ‘Hobbesian threat’ in modern political theory; whereby a government will attempt to increase its power by claiming it needs more powers to protect its citizens, often reducing their rights in the process. We will consider both sides of this debate. Leviathan is a complex work with many subtleties, often missed by those who use Hobbes as a mere foil to their ‘liberal’ politics.

One of the interesting new uses of Hobbes’ theory relates to international law. Many of our global issues require agreement between nations under a ‘social contract’, and this problem meets the issue which Hobbes raises, that is