Figurative visualisation of a state theory Horst Bredekamp: Visualizing a Theory of the State in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan

In the following, I will highlight some of the central points that Bredekamp has identified. This is a good example of how useful it can be to look at a topic from a visual point of view. In later books, Bredekamp has taken this idea further, but it cannot be discussed here.

Thomas Hobbes’s Theory of the State

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was a British philosopher and political theorist who published his work “Leviathan” in 1651, one of the central works of modern political theory. In summary, his theory is based on a few central points:

• The state of nature is a state of war. This means that people would fight each other if they had the opportunity.
• In order to create a form of society, people establish a state. This enables them to overcome the natural state of war and build a regulated life.
• When founding a state, they transfer their power to a sovereign. Hobbes views this transfer of power as a state treaty that the members of a state enter into voluntarily but irrevocably.
• Hobbes symbolizes the state with the biblical monster Leviathan.

The shape of Leviathan

A few key elements of the theory are already apparent from the shape of Leviathan:

• The body of the Leviathan is made up of several people. This makes it clear that the citizens form the state of their own free will, thus subordinating their individual interests to the collective interest of the state. Hobbes refers to this process as a “contract”.
• The Leviathan is a kind of political body: if you look closely, you can see the individual citizens with their different occupations; but if you move away a little, you can only see a single (political) body.
• The head of the Leviathan consists of a single face. It is Prince Charles II, a claimant to the British throne.
• The head is considered the soul of the Leviathan, which determines all state actions (see page 57).

However, we are dealing here with a contradiction between the body (= the many citizens) and the head (= the single sovereign). How can this contradiction be resolved? Hobbes explains the relationship between the head and body of the state as a “leap to a higher goal” (see page 90). Together with the head (= the sovereign), the body (= the citizens with their state contract) is more than the sum of its parts and can carry out the necessary tasks. Accordingly, all people have an overarching goal to which they subordinate their individual interests (this also applies to the sovereign himself).

The temporal aspect of the Leviathan

In addition to the aspect of the state contract, the visualisation also illustrates the temporal duration of the state. For Thomas Hobbes, the Leviathan (= state) is immortal. How can this be explained? First of all, it should be noted that in Hobbes’ eyes, the natural state of humankind is war. This means that if there were no state, people would fight each other. So as long as there is a state with a sovereign, there will be peace. But how can this peace be maintained if the sovereign dies? This is precisely where the figure of the Leviathan comes into play: it guarantees peace.

• The Leviathan is considered an “artificial body” that cannot die.
• This assertion is legitimized with a new idea of what “time” is. For Hobbes, time is no longer a duration, but a sequence of moments.
• Applied to the Leviathan, this means that the citizens repeatedly recreate the moment of the state’s creation, that is, the subordination of their personal interests under a state treaty. As long as they agree on this point, the state is renewed again and again and cannot perish (see page 107).
• This recognition of the social contract is symbolized by the fact that all citizens look up to the head of the Leviathan (see page 106).

However, if Hobbes bases the state on the fact that all citizens repeatedly agree to its existence, it is no longer tied to a specific sovereign. So if one king dies, another can take over his role.

At the same time, we can see the modern element of his state theory here: Hobbes no longer legitimizes the state, as was common before his time, with religion (“God wants X to be king”) or tradition (“For X years, family Y has been in power”). The state legitimizes itself because its citizens, of their own free will and out of pure reason, want a state so that they can live their lives.