On the Citizen Thomas Hobbes

De Cive (On the Citizen) is the first full exposition of the political thought of Thomas Hobbes, the greatest English political philosopher of all time. Professors Tuck and Silverthorne have undertaken the first complete translation since 1651, a rendition long thought (in error) to be at least sanctioned by Hobbes himself. On the Citizen is written in a clear, straightforward, expository style, offering students a more digestible account of Hobbes' political thought than even Leviathan itself. This new translation is itself a very significant scholarly event

Just as in Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes talks about the necessity of the absolute power of a sovereign with reference to the natural law of self-preservation and social contract theory. Hobbes writes that due to self-centric nature of human beings, an absolute authority is required to take the society out of the constant state of war and mistrust and move towards the stable and order society.