Hobbes thought that all events in the world, without limitation, can be described regarding the actions and interactions of physical bodies. He did not think the soul, or in the brain as separate from the heart, or in any of the other spiritual and mystical entities in which different authors have thought. Alternately, he saw individual beings as binding devices, with even their dreams and passions operating according to natural laws and connections of cause and effect, movement, and feeling. As instruments, social beings pursue their self-interest relentlessly, regularly avoiding injury and seeking pleasure. Hobbes saw the nation, or community, as a similar mechanism, more extensive than the personal body and synthetic but operating according
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In some of his first works, he only says that there need be a highest sovereign authority of some kind in the community, without saying definitively which sort of sovereign government is best. In Leviathan, however, Hobbes unequivocally demonstrates that absolutist regime is the only right form of control. In general, Hobbes attempts to define the reasonable bases upon which a local society could be created that would not be subjected to decay from inside. Accordingly, he describes how best to reduce friction, conflict, and factionalism within community—whether between state and religion, between rival parties, or between different contending opinions. Hobbes thinks that any such action leads to civil war. He holds that any form of organized government is better to civil war. Thus he advocates that all segments of society submit to one absolute, central authority for the sake of maintaining the universal peace. In Hobbes’s order, obedience to the king is directly tied to order in all realms. The monarch is allowed to run the government, to decide all laws, to be in charge of the church, to establish first systems, and to adjudicate in thoughtful disputes. For Hobbes, this is the only sure means of preserving a civil, friendly polity and stopping the dissolution of society into civil
In some of his first works, he only says that there need be a highest sovereign authority of some kind in the community, without saying definitively which sort of sovereign government is best. In Leviathan, however, Hobbes unequivocally demonstrates that absolutist regime is the only right form of control. In general, Hobbes attempts to define the reasonable bases upon which a local society could be created that would not be subjected to decay from inside. Accordingly, he describes how best to reduce friction, conflict, and factionalism within community—whether between state and religion, between rival parties, or between different contending opinions. Hobbes thinks that any such action leads to civil war. He holds that any form of organized government is better to civil war. Thus he advocates that all segments of society submit to one absolute, central authority for the sake of maintaining the universal peace. In Hobbes’s order, obedience to the king is directly tied to order in all realms. The monarch is allowed to run the government, to decide all laws, to be in charge of the church, to establish first systems, and to adjudicate in thoughtful disputes. For Hobbes, this is the only sure means of preserving a civil, friendly polity and stopping the dissolution of society into civil