However, man-being a rational animal-realizes that the greatest method to satisfy the survival instinct is to try to avoid the brutal pangs of the state of nature altogether, and the only natural means by which he can do so is by seeking security and protection in greater numbers since the strength of a group will always be immensely more powerful than the strength of the individual. Such a state is a lawless, cruel, savage plain of existence, in which the primary instinct of all living creatures (including man) is solely to survive. Hobbes’ central premise is that, absent of social structures, humans occupy a realm called the state of nature. In the book, Hobbes sets out to demonstrate how, and why, man has come to create social and political structures, in concurrence with other men, and thereby buildup the pillars of civilization and modes of governance. Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan is arguably one the most influential works of political philosophy since Plato’s Republic.
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