From Transfer to Authorize: An Investigation Into the Reform of Hobbes’ Original Contract

There is a significant change that Hobbes reformed the “transfer” with the “authorization” to interpret the “original contract” from On the Citizen(1647) to Leviathan(1651), which was to correct issues in the social contract theory. On the form, he aimed to break away from the context of “transfer-gift” and ensure the legality of the contract. On the link, he aimed to distinguish between “reaching the intention” and “actually executing” in establishing the contract, clarifying that the sovereign is the result of the contract rather than in contracting relationship. But the transformation of the original contract did not fundamentally achieve Hobbes’ theoretical goal of effectively ensuring the existence of the state.