In Hobbes' model, the social contract is an agreement among individuals to create a sovereign, not an agreement between the people and the sovereign. The sovereign is the product of this collective agreement and is therefore not bound by any prior contractual obligations to the subjects. This structure ensures the sovereign remains an independent and absolute power, free from the constraints of the people.

Machiavelli is associated with moral indifference in politics (a-2). Hobbes emphasizes the instinct of self-preservation as the basis for the social contract (b-3). Locke is famous for advocating the natural right to property (c-4). Rousseau, in his critique of Enlightenment progress, is often associated with the 'revolt against reason' or the prioritization of sentiment and general will over cold rationalism (d-1).

Hobbes famously cited the lives of certain indigenous peoples in the Americas as a historical example of the state of nature. He argued that these societies lived without a common power to keep them in awe, resulting in a condition of constant potential conflict. While modern anthropologists critique this characterization as Eurocentric and inaccurate, it was central to Hobbes's argument that human life without a sovereign is 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.'

Hobbes asserts that to achieve true security, individuals must surrender their natural right to govern themselves and all their power to the sovereign. This surrender is unconditional because any reservation of rights would create a potential source of conflict, thereby defeating the purpose of establishing a central authority. The sovereign holds absolute power to ensure the survival and order of the commonwealth.

In Hobbes' 'Leviathan,' he argues that in the state of nature, every individual has a 'right of nature'—the liberty to use their own power for the preservation of their own nature, which includes their own life. This implies that individuals possess inherent rights to do whatever they deem necessary for survival. However, because this state is a 'war of all against all,' individuals agree to surrender these rights to a sovereign to ensure security.

Hobbes argued that the sovereign is not a party to the social contract but rather its creation. Because the sovereign does not enter into the covenant with the subjects, they remain outside the contract's constraints, effectively staying in the state of nature while the subjects transition into civil society. This absolute position ensures the sovereign's power remains undivided and supreme, preventing the return to the chaotic state of nature.

Hobbes described the state of nature as a 'war of all against all'. He believed that without a common power to keep them in awe, humans are driven by competition, diffidence, and glory, leading to constant conflict and a life that is 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short'.

The term 'Leviathan' originates from the Hebrew Bible, specifically appearing in the Book of Job. It describes a powerful, fearsome sea creature that represents chaos and uncontrollable natural forces. Thomas Hobbes adopted this name for his seminal work to symbolize the absolute, all-encompassing power of the state, which is necessary to restrain the chaotic tendencies of human nature in the state of nature.

In Hobbesian political theory, human beings are driven by self-interest and a desire for self-preservation. Because the state of nature is inherently dangerous, individuals enter into a social contract. The fear of the sovereign's power and the consequences of violating the law act as the primary deterrent, ensuring that individuals comply with societal norms and maintain the peace established by the Leviathan.

This critique often targets Thomas Hobbes. While Hobbes advocates for an absolute sovereign that suppresses individual dissent, his political framework is rooted in the rational, self-interested individual of the state of nature. This paradox—using individualistic premises to justify an absolute, anti-individualistic state—is a central theme in critiques of Leviathan.