Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Leviathan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Nature, War, and Civil Society
Power, Common-wealths, and Monarchies
Religion
Fear
Reason, Fact, and Philosophy
Summary
Analysis
Systems within a common-wealth are either political or private. Political systems are made by authority of the common-wealth’s sovereign power. Private systems, on the other hand, are those made by subjects themselves. Private systems that are allowed by the sovereign power are lawful, but all other private systems are unlawful. In lawful political systems, the power of the representative of a system is limited and only exists under the power of the sovereign. The limits of the power given to the representative are noted by the sovereign and in common laws.
A sovereign can appoint a representative to a specific group of people—such as a state, city, or province within a larger common-wealth—but that representative’s power is limited to that group within the greater common-wealth. Such a system is considered lawful and political. A private system that is not sanctioned by the common-wealth is not political, but this does not mean said system is illegal. An organized sports team, for instance, is a system. A sports team is usually not illegal, but it does not wield any political power over subjects.
Themes
If the representative of a political body is one person, whatever that person does to violate the laws of a sovereign power is not the act of all subjects in the body politic. If the representative of a political body is an assembly, whatever that assembly does to violate the laws or letters of the sovereign is the act of the body politic—but only those subjects who voted on said violation. If the representative of a political body is a single person and borrows money through a covenant, that person alone is responsible for repayment. Conversely, when the representative is an assembly, and the assembly owes a debt, the debt is only owed by those who voted in favor of it. If a debt is owed by the entire assembly, the assembly must pay from its available common funds.
The acts of a representative are not the acts of the entire body politic because a representative only represents a certain number of the body politic and therefore cannot be representative of the common-wealth as a whole. Only the sovereign power can represent the common-wealth as a whole and act on behalf of the entire common-wealth because the sovereign is imbued with the power and individual rights of every subject in the common-wealth.
Themes
In certain circumstances, protesting against the body politic is lawful, but it is never lawful to protest against the sovereign power. There are many kinds of political bodies, and they differ by their stated business and their limitations. In a province, colony, or town, the body politic is an assembly of people and all resolutions come from a majority vote; however, that power is still limited by the sovereign power. If a member of a body politic feels they have been injured by the body politic itself, decision in such a case belongs to the sovereign and any judge they ordain.
It is lawful to protest against the body politic if that body politic only represents part of the common-wealth. For instance, it is lawful to protest against the representative of a city or province of common-wealth, because that representative stands for only part of the common-wealth. The sovereign power, on the other hand, represents that entire common-wealth. As one cannot protest against their self, they cannot protest the sovereign.
Themes
Political bodies made to govern people and trade goods can be made indefinite or for a short time, but they are still limited by the sovereign power. If any political body is given absolute power over the people, there are two sovereign powers, which cannot happen within a common-wealth. An example of a private body that is both regular and lawful is a family, in which the father or mother is the master of the family. Still, a father or mother only rules their family within the confines of the sovereign power. A private body that is regular but unlawful is one in which people unite themselves into one body without the authority to so, such as a group of thieves or beggars who unite to ease their stealing and begging.
Power given to the representatives of common-wealths must be subordinate to the sovereign power so the sovereign power always has supreme power at any given time. If a representative is given more power than a sovereign, it would make subjects of the common-wealth loyal to the representative, not the sovereign, and the common-wealth would automatically dissolve and revert to a state of nature and subsequently war.
Themes
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If the sovereign power is part of an assembly, and any number of that assembly attempts to persuade the rest without authority of the sovereign, it is an unlawful conspiracy because the assembly is being manipulated for the private interests of a select few. If the private interests of one member of the assembly are debated by the assembly as a whole, this is not unlawful, as it involves the entire assembly.
In England, the sovereign power (the monarch) is part of an assembly (Parliament). In the case of the English Civil War, in which parliamentarians overthrew King Charles I, Hobbes implies such an action was not lawful. Thus, Hobbes considers the government instituted by parliamentarians in England after the war illegitimate.
Themes
If a private member of a common-wealth has more servants than the common-wealth has subjects, this is considered an unlawful faction. Since the common-wealth is responsible for protecting all members, a single member does not require a force of their own. This also applies to factions within religion, be they Catholic or Protestant, as it is contrary to the establishment of the common-wealth to take power away from the sovereign.
Here, Hobbes compares religion, especially Catholicism, to an unlawful faction and implies that it is unlawful for the Catholic Pope to claim authority over other Christian sovereigns in the name of religion.
Themes
Literary Devices
