Thomas Hobbes is recognized as the author of "The Leviathan," a foundational text in political philosophy. In this work, Hobbes introduces the concept of the social contract, where individuals collectively agree to surrender some freedoms to a sovereign authority in exchange for safety and order. He argues that in the absence of a strong central authority, society would descend into chaos, famously describing life in such a state as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Hobbes’s ideas significantly influenced modern political thought concerning authority and the challenges of governance.