ABSTRACT
Hobbes was an admirer of mathematical method, not only in pure mathematics, but in its applications. The political opinions expressed in the Leviathan had been held by Hobbes for a long time. This chapter considers the doctrines of the Leviathan, upon which the fame of Hobbes mainly rests. The commonwealth, which he calls Leviathan, is a creation of art, and is in fact an artificial man. The pacts and covenants by which 'Leviathan' is first created take the place of God's fiat when He said 'Let Us make man'. Throughout the Leviathan, Hobbes never considers the possible effect of periodical elections in curbing the tendency of assemblies to sacrifice the public interest to the private interest of their members. A point in which Hobbes's doctrine is unduly limited is in regard to the relations between different States. There is not a word in Leviathan to suggest any relation between them except war and conquest, with occasional interludes.
