Leviathan as a Theory of the State and Justice: The Leviathanic Justice in the Contemporary States (original) (raw)

2021, Social Contract Journal (SCJ)

After 370 years of its first publication, Thomas Hobbes‟ Leviathan still is considered as a valid and vital theory in the field of political philosophy. What makes this work pivotal for the scholars, partly, is that its argumentations are depending on human nature, which is hard to change.Thus, Leviathan is still alive and has its own words to say, even, on the contemporary states. Leviathan has mostly been described as a theory of state - social contract theory; however, it has not been well-studied as a theory of justice. This paper aims at conducting so by having an analytical view on how Hobbes offers mechanisms to achieve justice within a state - civil state. The rationale here is that Hobbes argues that the state is an artificial leviathan, in which enforcing and then obeying its law is a way to achieve justice. In doing so, while justice has been understood as a natural or a divine right, it could also be an artificial one depending on civil law. The paper assumes that the contemporary states can be considered as leviathanic ones and tries to evaluate their productiveness in achieving the leviathanic justice. To do so, the paper uses qualitative methods of research in political science, focusing on analytically reviewing Hobbes‟ Leviathan, 1651. It follows a structure starting with an Introduction, followed by sections on Hobbes‟ political thoughts, then explaining Leviathan as a theory of state and justice; finally, all would be summed up and concluded in a Conclusion.