Thomas Hobbes, 17th century British philosopher and political thinker!
A book of terror! A revolutionary book on world political thought!
Describe the organism by comparing the country to the giant sea monster 'Leviathan'!
An immortal classic with a powerful appeal that awakens Korean intellect today!

Leviathan: State power comes from the people.

Leviathan is a giant monster that lives forever and does not die, as described in the Book of Job in the Old Testament. It is described as a sea monster that breathes fire from its mouth and is useless against any weapon, and is the king of all the arrogant creatures who know no fear.
The national organism is explained by comparing the nation to this monster, 'Leviathan'.
The terrifying book of bans! "Leviathan" is the representative work of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), a political thinker during the English Revolution. Its subtitle is "The Content, Form, and Power of the Church and Civil Community."

This book, a revolutionary work in world political thought, consists of 4 parts and 47 chapters, in addition to an introduction and conclusion.
Published in 1651 during the English Revolution, it forced Hobbes, who was in exile, to return home and was attacked by royalists for writing it in favor of Cromwell.
His fundamental argument was to derive the absoluteness of political power from the inviolable natural right to self-preservation, and to subordinate religion to political power.
Part 1 describes humanity, Part 2 the Commonwealth, Part 3 the Christian Commonwealth, and Part 4 the Kingdom of Darkness, the latter two being a critique of the Church.
He argued that humans are born equal, but in the state of nature, 'all peoples are at war with all peoples', and that in order to escape this self-negation of natural rights, natural rights are limited by the natural law discovered by reason itself, and a state is established through a social contract that establishes absolute sovereignty.

But the most noble and beneficial of them all was the invention of 'names' or 'designations', and their combination, speech.
Through this language, humans can record their thoughts, recall past events, and express their intentions for mutual benefit and fellowship.
If there were no language, there would be no commonwealth, no society, no contract, no peace among men, just as there would be no world of lions, bears, or wolves.

--- p.39

A reputation for strength is strength.
Because it attracts people who demand protection.
Also, the reputation (popularity) of loving one's country is a strength for the same reason.
Likewise, whatever your temperament, it is also a power to have a reputation for being loved or feared by many people, or to have such a temperament.
Because it is a tool that can gain support and service from many people.
Success is power.
Because they gain a reputation as being wise or lucky, and make people fear or rely on them.
The kindness of one who already has power increases his power.
Because you can get love.

--- p.91~92

Happiness is a continuous progression of desire from one object to another, the attainment of the former being merely a path to the latter.
Because human desire is not aimed at a single moment of pleasure, but at securing the path to future desires forever.
Therefore, all human voluntary acts and natural tendencies are directed not only to obtaining a satisfactory life, but also to securing it.
The only difference is the method of achieving that goal.
The reason for the differences in methods is partly because people have different passions and partly because people have different knowledge and opinions about what causes the desired results to be achieved.

--- p.102

Therefore, we can find three main causes of conflict in human nature.
The first is competition, the second is difference, and the third is glory.
Humans invade first for profit, second for the sake of safety, and third for the sake of honor.
First, they resort to violence to gain control over others, their families, and their livestock. Second, they resort to violence in self-defense. Third, they resort to violence because of trivial expressions of belittling, whether directly directed at them—a single word, a single laugh, a disagreement—or indirectly, regardless of their relatives, friends, ethnicity, occupation, or family.

--- p.129

What is the ultimate cause, purpose, and intention of human beings, born with a love of freedom and a penchant for dominating others, to confine and oppress themselves within a commonwealth? It lies in self-preservation and, through it, the insight into a more satisfying life.

--- p.171

“I authorize this person or this body to grant me complete authority over myself.
But this is on condition that you, like me, transfer your rights to him and authorize his actions.” When this is done and a large number of people are united and joined into one person, it is called a Commonwealth, or in Latin, Civitas.
Thus the great Leviathan was born.
No, to put it more piously, under the protection of the 'immortal God', a 'mortal God' is born who guarantees our peace and defense.
By the power granted to all individuals living within the Commonwealth, the God of this earth uses his great power and might to maintain peace within the country, and to intimidate the people abroad, to unite their wills and defeat foreign enemies.
This is precisely where the essence of the Commonwealth lies.
The definition of Commonwealth is as follows:

--- p.175

Every human being is born with two magnifying glasses.
One is passion and the other is narcissism.
When viewed through this magnifying glass, small sacrifices appear as great sufferings, which leads to complaints.
But they don't know how to see through a telescope.
If we look far ahead through the telescope, that is, through the study of morality and society, we can see that a misery that cannot be avoided without such sacrifice is just around the corner.

--- p.187

Civil law and natural law are not different kinds of law, but different parts of law.
That is, one is called 'civil law' because it is written down, and the other is called 'natural law' because it exists in an unwritten form.
However, human natural rights, that is, innate freedom, can be curtailed or limited by civil law.
Rather, it can be said that the purpose of making the law itself is to restrict that right.
Because without such limitations there can be no peace.
The reason law was introduced into the world was to limit the natural freedom of individuals so that they could help and cooperate with each other without harming each other, and fight against the common enemy.

--- p.263

When a commonwealth is disintegrated not by external violence but by internal disorder, the fault lies not with man as a material, but with man as the creator and order-giver of the commonwealth.
Men, weary of plundering and murdering one another in disorder, and however much they would like to build together a strong and lasting structure, yet at the same time they lack the skill to make proper laws to regulate their actions, and the humility and patience to bear the pain of chipping away at the bulges that now stand upon them, so that without the help of a very competent architect they can only build a poor building.
Such buildings will not last beyond their own time, and will surely collapse on the heads of their descendants.

--- p.308

Therefore, we must listen very carefully to the words of anyone who calls himself a prophet.
They preach in the name of God what the path to happiness is, and they claim that following their preaching is obedience to God.
To claim to teach people the way to happiness is to claim to rule them.
In other words, he wants to rule over them and reign over them.
Since humans naturally desire to dominate others, we need to examine whether we are putting forward God with such ambition and falsehood.
Therefore, before following the words of such a person, each person must carefully examine and verify them.
However, the situation is different when a promise of obedience has already been made when the Commonwealth is established.
That is, if the prophet is a political sovereign or a person approved by a political sovereign, his words must be obeyed.

--- p.415

The maintenance of civil society depends on justice.
That definition is the power of life and death, and other lesser powers of rewards and punishments, which the sovereign of the Commonwealth has.
It depends.
Therefore, a commonwealth cannot exist where someone other than the sovereign has the power to give a reward greater than life, or to inflict a punishment greater than death.
--- p.428

What is philosophy? Philosophy is 'knowledge acquired by reasoning, which discovers the uniqueness of something from its mode of production, or arrives at the path by which it can be produced from its uniqueness, and which aims at producing the results needed by human life, as far as matter and human power allow.' Therefore, geometers discover the properties of various figures, and from those properties, by reasoning, they find out a new logic that constitutes the figures.
As a result, land and water surveying becomes possible and it is helpful for numerous other purposes.
Likewise, astronomers observe the sun and stars rising, setting, and moving across the sky to determine the cause of day and night, the change of seasons, and by this they measure time.
The same goes for other disciplines.

--- p.623

When people who lack the legal authority to oppress reason and who are not qualified to be judges of truth because they have not done sufficient research introduce absurd philosophy, what they do is suppress true philosophy.
Through the voyages of time, it has been revealed that the Earth has antipodes, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the changing of years and days is due to the movement of the Earth.
Yet, people have been punished by the church authorities for even assuming such claims, using their writings to express such opinions and to state their reasons for and against them.
But what justification is there for such punishment? Is it because such opinions are contrary to true religion? If such opinions were true, such a thing would be impossible.
Therefore, let competent people investigate whether such opinions are true or not, or let them refute those who make opposing claims.

--- p.643