Hobbes's "Leviathan"

Reader’s Guides are clear, concise and accessible introductions to classic works of philosophy. Each book explores the major themes, historical and philosophical context and key passages of a major philosophical text, guiding the reader toward a thorough understanding of often demanding material. Ideal for undergraduate students, the guides provide an essential resource for anyone who needs to get to grips with a philosophical text. Thomas Hobbes is widely considered to have been ahead of his time and his huge contribution to political philosophy has only recently been fully recognised. His most enduring work, Leviathan, is a key text in the study of political philosophy and a hugely important and exciting, yet challenging, piece of philosophical writing. In Hobbes’s ‘Leviathan’: A Reader’s Guide, Laurie M. Johnson Bagby explains the philosophical background against which the book was written and the key themes inherent in the text. The book then guides the reader to a clear understanding of the text as a whole, before exploring the reception and influence of this classic philosophical work. This is the ideal companion to study of this most influential and challenging of texts.

Author Biography

Laurie Bagby is Associate Professor of Political Philosophy at Kansas State, USA, and Director of a college-wide program for Study of Arts and Sciences Through Primary Texts. She is the author of Political Thought: A Guide to the Classics (Wadsworth)