Behemoth, or The Long Parliament

Behemoth, completed around 1668 and not published until after Hobbes's death, represents the systematic application of this framework to the English Civil War. In his insightful and substantial Introduction, Stephen Holmes examines the major themes and implications of Behemothin Hobbes's system of thought. Holmes notes that a fresh consideration of Behemothdispels persistent misreadings of Hobbes, including the idea that man is motivated solely by a desire for self-preservation.

Behemoth, which is cast as a series of dialogues between a teacher and his pupil, locates the principal cause of the Civil War less in economic interests than in the stubborn irrationality of key actors. It also shows more vividly than any of Hobbes's other works the importance of religion in his theories of human nature and behavior.

"The placing of Hobbes's political thought in its historical context—and specifically, viewing it as a direct response to and interpretation of the English Civil War—necessarily has the consequence of increasing the value ofBehemoth, Hobbes's own analysis of that event. Students (and scholars) who wish to know not only how the Civil War shaped Hobbes's political thinking but also why it retained its central place in his thought nearly twenty years afterhe wroteLeviathan will have to turn toBehemoth for the answers." — Richard Ashcraft