A review by chriscarpenter
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

3.0

Hobbes starts with an interesting tour of psychology with many observations that do not appear to have anything to do with his stated goal of justifying a strong central monarch. In the second part we get what he is justifiably well-known for: his development of the state of nature and the social contract. If that's what you're interested in, just read the second part. He bases it solely on natural law and secular argument. Then in the third part we get a lengthy (and I mean lengthy) discussion of theology that he eventually applies to what is largely an anti-Catholic rant. If theology is not your interest, I'd avoid this and the fourth part. In the fourth part there are, however, some amusing cheap shots taken at the dominant scholasticism of the European universities of his time.