Hobbes publishes 'Leviathan'

English philosopher Thomas Hobbes held that the state of nature was a state of strife and chaos which could be ended only if individuals agreed in a 'Social Contract' to give their liberty into the hands of a sovereign. The sovereign on his part was obliged to protect his subjects. Failure to do so would allow the people to seek a new ruler. Strangely enough Hobbes managed to offend both sides in the English Civil War and spent 11 years in Paris before he dared set foot in England again in 1651.