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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Leviathan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Nature, War, and Civil Society
Power, Common-wealths, and Monarchies
Religion
Fear
Reason, Fact, and Philosophy
Summary
Analysis
Liberty, or freedom, signifies “the absence of Opposition.” Therefore, one who is free is able to do what is in their own strength and ability to do without interference. Hobbes explains that Fear and Liberty can exist together, giving the example of someone who throws their possessions overboard when they fear the ship is sinking. In this scenario, there is a willingness to throw one’s possessions overboard; thus, the action is not hindered or interfered with in some way and is therefore free. The same can be said for someone who pays a debt for fear of imprisonment. It is fear that compels one to willingly do something, and this is generally the case within a common-wealth. Subjects fear the established laws, even though they are technically at liberty to break them.
In Hobbes’s theory, just because one is compelled to do something out of fear does not mean they are not free. There is nothing that hinders a free individual from breaking the law; it is usually the fear of punishment by the sovereign power that deters such actions. Therefore, a person is at perfect liberty to break the law in a common-wealth—meaning no one is holding them down—but they will be subjected to the sovereign’s power if caught.
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Liberty and necessity are also consistent, much like the water of a river that has both the ability (liberty) and the need (necessity) to flow in a certain direction. The same is seen in people’s voluntary actions, which arise from one’s own liberty and will; however, since every action is connected to every other action in a “continuall chaine,” voluntary actions also come from necessity.
Again, Hobbes argues that all of life is motion, and that each motion is connected to the next in a “continuall chaine” of motion that never stops, unless something hinders it. In a common-wealth, it is fear of the sovereign power that hinders this constant chain of motion.
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The sovereign power can never be abolished or limited, as nothing the sovereign does to a subject can ever be considered an injury or injustice. This is because the subject is author of everything the sovereign does. In this vein, a sovereign can even put a subject to death, and such an action is not considered wrong or immoral.
Subjects are the author of everything a sovereign does because a sovereign gathers its power from the people. If a sovereign uses its power against its subjects, it is tantamount to the subjects using power unto themselves, so such treatment cannot be considered unjust. Hobbes says earlier that the sovereign is the author of the people, but that power comes from the people and is therefore theirs as well. In this way, power between a sovereign and its subjects is a symbiotic relationship.
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The liberty that writers praise in past common-wealths is praise for the liberty of the sovereign power, not the liberty of individual people. The people of Athens and Rome were free, Hobbes explains. Still, no one had the liberty to resist the sovereign power, and this holds true in all common-wealths, be it a monarchy, a democracy, or an aristocracy. In each type of common-wealth, the freedom is the same.
This passage harkens back to Hobbes’s argument that a monarchy is the best form of government. Hobbes demonstrates here that one’s liberty is exactly the same in all forms of government (meaning freedom is always dependent on the sovereign power), so no one form of government offers any more freedom than the next. People often assume subjects have more liberty in a democracy because they are ruled by the people, but Hobbes argues this isn’t actually the case.
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It is easy for people to be confused by the word “liberty” and to conflate their private liberties with those of the public. In the Western world, opinions of common-wealths come from Aristotle and Cicero, and such men assumed that subjects of a sovereign assembly are free and that subjects of a monarchy are slaves. In Aristotle’s Politiques, he says: “In democracy, Liberty is to be supposed; for ‘tis commonly held, that no man is Free in any other Government.” Thus, the West has been taught to hate monarchies from such writers.
This passage is an example of Hobbes’s agreement that philosophy is based on opinion, not fact, and that such opinions can be biased and damaging to common-wealths. Because of the opinions of Aristotle and Cicero, who believed only in democracies, Hobbes claims monarchies have been given a bad reputation so to speak. Just because Aristotle and Cicero believed democracies are best, Hobbes implies, doesn’t mean they actually are.
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True liberty means that a subject can refuse to do certain things, even if those things are commanded by the sovereign power; however, one’s submission to a common-wealth includes both obligation and liberty. In other words, while one may be obligated to perform a certain action, they still have the liberty not to do it. Subjects of a common-wealth have freedom to defend their own bodies, even if the act against them is lawful, and subjects can never be obliged to hurt or kill themselves. Furthermore, when subjects are questioned by the sovereign power regarding a crime they may have committed, said subjects cannot be obliged to accuse and incriminate themselves.
The subject of a common-wealth has the freedom to defend their body and the right not to self-incriminate during questioning of a crime because these things go against the Laws of Nature. The Laws of Nature guarantee one’s right to preserve their life under any circumstances, and, depending on the crime, self-incrimination could put one’s life in jeopardy if it is a capital offense.
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A subject has a right to refuse the sovereign power’s commands if the refusal does not affect the reasons why the common-wealth was created in the first place. If a certain refusal affects the purpose of the common-wealth, a subject is not free to refuse. For instance, a subject may refuse to fight in a war, even if the sovereign has the power to punish said refusal with death. However, no one is at liberty to refuse to fight for the common-wealth in defense of another power. To refuse the common-wealth in the service of another diminishes the power of the common-wealth and destroys the very reason for government.
If one’s sovereign power invades another common-wealth with the intention of waging war and conquering it, a subject may refuse to fight, even if it is against the law; however, if one’s common-wealth is invaded by another sovereign power, a subject is not at liberty to refuse to fight, as the common-wealth and the covenant is in danger. Since the covenant of a common-wealth is entered into willingly, it can be reasonably assumed that a subject does not want that power destroyed.
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In instances where there are no established laws, a subject is at liberty to behave as he or she pleases. If there is controversy between a subject and the sovereign power, the subject has a right to sue the sovereign, just as if the sovereign is any other subject. However, if the sovereign demands anything by way of their power, there can be no action of law, as everything the sovereign does is derived of the power and authority of subjects. In short, if an action is brought against the sovereign, it is brought against the subject, too.
Again, since the sovereign draws its power from its subjects, sovereign and subject are considered one and the same, and the sovereign cannot act against the subject. However, Hobbes implies the sovereign power can act either as an individual or as the sovereign power. For example, if a monarch is acting as an individual without claiming the power of the people, there is recourse for misdeeds; however, anything done under the sovereign power of the people is always just.
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A subject’s obligation to the sovereign power lasts as long as the common-wealth, and the right to protect one’s self in nature is a right that can never be taken away. Thus, the end of protection of a sovereign power signals the end of obedience. If a subject is taken prisoner by another power during war, they are at liberty to become a subject of the power who takes them; however, if one is imprisoned and not given the choice, they are not bound by any covenant and can escape by any means necessary.
The key to Hobbes’s understanding of covenants and common-wealths is consent. No one can become a subject of a common-wealth without submitting freely and willingly handing their innate rights over to the sovereign power.
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If a sovereign power is captured in war and gives up power for themselves and their heirs, their subjects are released from obligation to the former sovereign power and are obligated to the new, invading power. However, if a sovereign power is held prisoner and does not give up power freely, a subject is likewise not obligated to obey the invading power.
A common-wealth is only considered conquered at the point the sovereign power transfers power willingly to the invading common-wealth. As the sovereign willingly passes power over in such an instance, the transfer is lawful and subjects are held in the power of the invading sovereign.
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