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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

"Matter,Form,and Power of a Commonwealth,Ecclesiastical and Civil" by Thomas Hobbes

..
or "The State,the great Leviathan"
..
A man is a group of material particles in motion.
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The state -the great Leviathan- is an artificial man in which :
sovereignty is the soul,
officers the joints,
rewards and punishments the nerves,
wealth its strength,safety its business,
counselors its memory,
equity and law its reason and will,
peace its health,
sedition its sickness,and civil war its death.
..
Reasoning is the manipulation of names ;
truth is the correct ordering of names.
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Desire is motion toward an object,and a-version is motion away ;
the good and bad are understood by reference to desire and aversion.
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In a state of nature there is a war of every man against every man ;
to secure peace men make contracts establishing a sovereign power who is not subject to civil law since by his will he creates law.
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Of the three forms of sovereignty :
monarchy,
aristocracy,
and democracy,
monarchy is the most effective in securing peace.
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