yeah. it's kinda funny. hobbes is actually providing a summary of a number of arguments *against* capitalism. it's one of the better cases against the laissez-faire model that i've yet to come across.

it's not really an argument in favour of totalitarianism, and it doesn't seem to have anything remotely to do with socialism at all (despite some common apparent misperceptions). it's just a really clear and systemic rejection of the whole "free market" ancap perspective; the thesis of the text is most simply stated as "without strict regulation, markets are impossible".

i want to get this across clearly, so i'm going to be careful about writing this section up.

i'm actually going to be putting forth the idea that hobbes was a kind of proto-marxist, with his leviathan being the dictatorship of the proletariat.

what he's describing is something sort of like the borg, not an individualist liberal society, where the sovereign is the literal reflection of the people's will. that's not the type of authoritarianism he's usually associated with.

right-wing collectivism is generally understood today as synonymous with fascism, but i would also put marx and his followers on the collectivist right.

like i say - it's funny. this is currently being very badly taught.

i don't see anything about rights or individualism in here at all. nor do i see much about how princes ought to rule. i see the projection of a platonic and collectivist utopia, kept in line by a cross between thor and odin.

hobbes seems more at the end of a line of thought than at the beginning of one.