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  libraryofbabel
  As an ex historian I love how this famous 350yo work of political philosophy is just sitting at #7 on HN with absolutely no context on why it was submitted.The great debate of political philosophy coming out of the 17th century was between Hobbes (anarchy is horrible, humans aren’t nice to each other, best to give up your freedoms to a strong sovereign/state for protection) and Locke (liberty is best, people are reasonable, limit government). I will say that like most of us I probably side more with Locke but as a pessimist about human nature I find Hobbes’s argument fascinating too.
• otoolep
  I grew up in Ireland, moved to the USA as an adult. European government is clearly Hobbes in model, the US Lockean.In Europe the individual has almost no legal reason to use force, and force by individuals is considered illegitimate. The "Sovereign" has all the coercive power in European states. In the US, however, a certain amount of legitimate force explicitly remains with the individual i.e. the 2nd amendment. (I am not making a value judgement here).Of course, Europe has government with the consent of the governed, so is Lockean in that sense. But the balance of force between the "Sovereign" and the people in Europe is all Hobbes. You only notice it when you move to the US and compare it to Europe.Europe had centuries of religious and civil war. It's not surprising Hobbes won out.
• a3w
  "In the Talmud, Rav Yehuda says that there are twelve hours in a day. God spends three of them studying Torah, three judging the world, three answering prayers, and three playing with Leviathan."Chapter 5: Never Seek To Tell Thy Love, unsongbook.comSeems to be important, that creature.
• mrwh
  Nature it selfe cannot erre: and as men abound in copiousnesse of language; so they become more wise, or more mad than ordinary
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  vivzkestrel
  - I have no idea what I am supposed to take from this book or what this book is about- the OP has not put even 2 lines explaining what, where, why, how, when etc- Anyone mind explaining what this book is about?
• anon
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