English Philosopher
[1588-1679]
In the world of Academia today, perhaps no philosopher is revered and studied more than Hobbes because of the implications of his ideas on modern day politics. His only seminal work, The Leviathan has started intellectual discussions about the appropriate scope of power for any king.
The most important thing to remember about Hobbes is his idea that man is in a constant state of war. In the state of nature, man has no protection from another human being because everyone has equal ability to make another person's life "nasty, brutish and short." To seek refuge from this chaos, man enters into a social contract with every other person in a community, and they appoint a soverign to protect them. However, this soverign (who, by the way, is not in contract with the people, but only appointed as ruler) has absolute power and can do whatever he wants to maintain stability and order in the community. In fact, the soverign has so much influence that he can even trump ecclesiastical power! In addition, the sovereign only loses his power if he fails to make the state a more amenable place than the the state of nature, which seems like a impossibility for a leader with so much power.
Hobbes "state of nature" was so controversial that is spurred variations of the concept by political theorists such as Locke, Spinoza, and J.J. Rousseau.
Other sources of information
The Window-Hobbes
Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
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