De Corpore

De Corpore ("On the Body") is a 1655 book by Thomas Hobbes. As its full Latin title Elementorum philosophiae sectio prima De corpore implies, it was part of a larger work, conceived as a trilogy. De Cive had already appeared, while De Homine would be published in 1658. Hobbes had in fact been drafting De Corpore for at least ten years before its appearance, putting it aside for other matters.^[1] This delay affected its reception: the approach taken seemed much less innovative than it would have done in the previous decade.^[2]

Contents

Although the chosen title would suggest a work of

Hobbes supervised an English translation of De Corpore, which was published in 1656. There were some changes, and a provocative appendix Six Lessons to the Professors of Mathematics was added.[7] It has been claimed that the translation was vitiated by errors, undermining its usefulness as a guide to Hobbes's philosophy of language.^[8] A planned French translation was made, but never appeared, probably because of further revision plans. No revised edition appeared until 1668, when De Corpore was included in the Opera philosophica collection of Hobbes' works.^[9]

A modern translation of the first part of De Corpore is available: Thomas Hobbes, Computatio sive logica: Logic, Latin text, translation and commentary by Aloysius Martinich; edited, and with an introductory essay, by Isabel C. Hungerland and George R. Vick, New York: Abaris Books, 1981.

Critical edition of the Latin text: Thomas Hobbes, De Corpore, edited with Introduction and notes (in French) by Karl Schuhmann, Paris: Vrin, 1999.

Notes