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Title details for Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes - Available

Leviathan

or The Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil

by Thomas Hobbes
James Adams
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

The leviathan is the vast unity of the State. But how are unity, peace, and security to be attained? Hobbes' answer is sovereignty, but the resurgence of interest today in Leviathan is due less to its answers than its methods: Hobbes sees politics as a science capable of the same axiomatic approach as geometry.

Written during the turmoil of the English Civil War, Leviathan was, in Hobbes' lifetime, publicly burnt and even condemned in Parliament as one of the causes of the Great Fire of London in 1666. Its current appeal lies not just in its elevation of politics to a science, but in its overriding concern for peace, its systematic analysis of power, and its convincing apologia for the then-emergent market society in which we still live.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 21, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781483076676
      • File size: 671082 KB
      • Duration: 23:18:05

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 1470
    • Text Difficulty: 12

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Hobbes's 1651 masterwork of political and ecclesiastical philosophy is generally clear and succinct, though not always easy. Narrator Peter Wickham uses emphasis, tone, pacing, and pauses admirably to convey Hobbes's meaning, but even his clarity may not always get the sense across at first listen, and at times he reads a touch too quickly for the material. There is great variety in his tone, but over the course of the long text, that variety can take on repetitive patterns and seem singsong. Hobbes is arguing and persuading, and even Wickham's cultured reading can sometimes seem like a harangue. But it's still an accomplished presentation of this long and occasionally difficult text, and anyone who wants his or her Hobbes in this format should be grateful for it. W.M. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1470
  • Text Difficulty:12

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