These essays are the fruit of many years' research by one of the world's leading Hobbes scholars. Noel Malcolm offers not only succinct introductions to Hobbes 's life and thought, but also path-breaking studies of many different aspects of his political philosophy, his scientific and religious theories, his relations with his contemporaries, the sources of his ideas, the printing history of his works, and his influence on European thought.

Noel Malcolm, one of the world's leading experts on Thomas Hobbes, presents a set of extended essays on a wide variety of aspects of the life and work of this giant of early modern thought. Malcolm offers a succinct introduction to Hobbes's life and thought, as a foundation for his discussion of such topics as his political philosophy, his theory of international relations, the development of his mechanistic world-view, and his subversive Biblical criticism. Several of the essays pay special attention (...) to the European dimensions of Hobbes's life, his sources and his influence; the longest surveys the entire European reception of his work from the 1640s to the 1750s. All the essays are based on a deep knowledge of primary sources, and many present striking new discoveries about Hobbes's life, his manuscripts, and the printing history of his works. Aspects of Hobbes will be essential reading not only for Hobbes specialists, but also for all those interested in seventeenth-century intellectual history more generally, both British and European. (shrink)

Acclaimed writer and historian Noel Malcolm presents his sensational discovery of a new work by Thomas Hobbes : a propaganda pamphlet on behalf of the Habsburg side in the Thirty Years' War, translated by Hobbes from a Latin original. Malcolm's book explores a fascinating episode in seventeenth-century history, illuminating both the practice of early modern propaganda and the theory of "reason of state".

Assesses the European reception of Hobbes's thought from c.1640 to c.1750. It begins by discussing the publishing history of his works on the Continent, and the various attempts to edit or translate them. Then it considers the reception of his writings, dividing the European writers into three categories: the defenders of orthodoxy, who reacted against Hobbes's ideas because they regarded them as extreme; the radicals, who celebrated and developed his ideas—also because they regarded them as extreme; and a broader third (...) category, consisting of those who engaged in more or less positive ways with Hobbesian theories, not to shake the foundations of orthodoxy, but to develop arguments and positions within the intellectual mainstream. It suggests that this third category was larger and more significant than has hitherto been recognized. Finally, the essay considers Hobbes's own relationship to the ‘Republic of Letters’ of his time. (shrink)

Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan is one of the most important philosophical texts in the English language, and one of the most influential works of political philosophy ever written. This is the first critical edition based on a full study of the manuscript and printing history. It is also the first edition to place the English text side by side with Hobbes's later Latin version of it, complete with a set of notes in which the many passages that differ in the Latin (...) are translated into English. So, for the first time, readers of Leviathan will be able to see clearly every stage of the development of the text. Both texts are fully annotated with explanatory notes. The editor's Introduction, which takes up the whole of the first volume, gives a path-breaking account of the work's context, sources, and textual history. This definitive edition will set the study of Hobbes's masterwork on a new basis. (shrink)

Examines the nature and origins of Hobbes's Biblical criticism, concentrating on what has always seemed his most radical claim—the argument that the Pentateuch was written not by Moses but by a much later figure, Ezra the Scribe. It traces the origins of this theory, showing how some key elements of Hobbes's biblical criticism were already present in the mainstream tradition; but it argues that Hobbes's insistence on the grounding of the authority of the text in political authority did give a (...) radical new edge to his theory. Finally, it considers whether it is correct to describe Hobbes as having founded modern biblical criticism. (shrink)

Challenges the traditional portrayal of Hobbes as an extreme ‘Realist’ in international relations theory—i.e. as someone who regarded the international arena as a pure anarchy in which law could have no meaning and aggression could always be justified by the dictates of self‐interest. It argues that his theory did have a place for international law, and did supply reasons for international cooperation of various kinds. In many ways his theory was closer to the ameliorism of the ‘Rationalist’ tradition than to (...) the changeless pessimism of the Realists; but, on the other hand, the peculiar nature of his natural law theory did set him apart from the Rationalist tradition. (shrink)

Presents an interpretation of the famous engraved title page of Hobbes's Leviathan, in which the ‘person’ of the state is depicted as a colossal figure composed of smaller individual figures. It argues that the origins of this design can be found in an optical device developed by the French scientist Jean François Niceron, which used a specially cut lens to create a single composite figure out of separate smaller figures; and it explores the significance of this for Hobbes's theory of (...) ‘representation’. (shrink)

_ Source: _Volume 28, Issue 2, pp 77 - 102 Hobbes has long been associated with the sexual ‘libertinism’ of the Restoration period. The connections that are commonly made are crude, misrepresenting his philosophy; moreover, the attitude to sexual matters expressed in many of his published works was quite puritanical. Yet there are elements of his thought that could be taken to support a libertine agenda: hostility to Augustinian teaching on lust and chastity; the idea that marriage laws are merely (...) human; a recognition of self-regarding elements in sexual psychology; and the idea that desires in themselves are not sins. On this last point, however, Hobbes’s distinction between desires and intentions to act, combined with his account of the role of imagination in desire, does make it possible to attribute to him a distinctly non-libertine theory of how sexual behaviour is modified in civil society. (shrink)

Offers an introduction to the political philosophy of Hobbes and Spinoza. It analyses Hobbes's theory of natural law and natural rights, and argues that he operated with two different concepts of rights—which have been confused by his commentators and may to some extent have been confused by Hobbes himself. It then discusses the adaptation of Hobbes's theories by Dutch writers such as the brothers de la Court, whose writings influenced Spinoza, before summarizing the political theory of Spinoza himself, and commenting (...) on the relationship between his ideas and those of Hobbes. (shrink)

Analyses the sense in which Hobbes conceived of his political theory as enjoying the status of a ‘science’. It examines the two different concepts of scientific knowledge developed by Hobbes at different times and in different connections, and describes how Hobbes became convinced—mistakenly—that he had found a way of combining the two.

Offers an introduction to Hobbes's life, paying special attention to his family background, his education, his relations with his employers, and his connections with the various intellectual groups, which may have influenced his thinking—such as the ‘Great Tew’ circle in England, and the Mersenne circle in France. It also discusses the notoriety that followed the publication of Leviathan in 1651, and the polemics that dogged his later years.

Discusses the translation of Hobbes's De cive, which was published in England in 1651 under the title Philosophicall Rudiments. A few surviving copies include a dedicatory epistle by the translator, signed ‘C. C.’ In this essay, evidence is presented for identifying this translator with the young poet Charles Cotton. His indirect connections with both Hobbes and Lady Fane are explored, and attention is paid to the way in which Hobbes's text was assimilated to a moral and political position that combined (...) quasi‐Stoic moralism with fervent Royalism. (shrink)

Discusses Hobbes's relationship with the French mathematician Gilles Personne de Roberval, with whom he became closely associated in Paris during the 1640s. It examines a text that, commonly assumed to be a statement of Roberval's own views, may rather have been a description of the views of Hobbes. The degree to which Hobbes and Roberval were able to assimilate elements of skepticism is also discussed, particularly in relation to the different ways in which they reacted to the experimental evidence for (...) the production of a vacuum in the late 1640s. (shrink)

Offers an answer to the question: why was Hobbes never elected a Fellow of the Royal Society? It argues that although the Royal Society was in many ways more like a club than a modern academic institution, Hobbes's exclusion cannot be explained simply on personal grounds. The notoriety of his political and theological position was embarrassing to the scientists of the Royal Society because his mechanistic world‐view was in fact similar to theirs: their underlying agreement with him, as much as (...) their more visible disagreements with him, was the cause of their eagerness to dissociate themselves from him. (shrink)

Presents the discovery that Hobbes was a shareholder in both the Virginia Company and its sister organization, the Somer Islands Company. He was granted a share in the former by his employer, William Cavendish in 1622, and attended its meetings regularly over the following two years. The essay explores the internal politics of the Virginia Company during this period and discusses the ways in which Hobbes may have been influenced by this experience.

Wenig ist bekannt über Leibniz' Reise 1676 nach Holland, und der wichtigste Teil dieser Reise -sein Treffen mit Spinoza im Haag -bleibt ziemlich im Dunkeln. Ein erst kürzlich veröffentlichter Brief von Leibniz an Oldenburg, verfasst kurz nach seinem Besuch bei Spinoza, liefert nicht nur mehr Information über Leibniz' Aufenthalt in Holland (und seiner vorrangegangenen Reise nach England), sondern er wirft auch etwas mehr Licht auf seine Haltung zu Spinoza in dieser Zeit. In diesem Aufsatz wird dargelegt, wie Leibniz' Versäumnis, einen (...) Brief von Oldenburg an Spinoza zu übermitteln, wahrscheinlich verursacht wurde durch einige Bemerkungen in diesem Brief, die Leibniz als einen Sympathisanten der Philosophie Spinozas darstellten. Es wird weiterhin diskutiert, welcher Art diese Sympathien hätten sein können und worin das Widerstreben auf Leibniz' Seite bestand, als Anhänger Spinozas erkannt zu werden. (shrink)

Explores the life and mental world of one of the first recorded readers of Leviathan: Pierre de Cardonnel, whose annotated copy of the book records that it was given to him by the Earl of Devonshire in 1652. Putting together evidence from many archival sources, it offers a full picture of de Cardonnel's life in Caen, Southampton, London, and Paris, and analyses the response to the arguments of Leviathan expressed in de Cardonnel's marginal comments on it.

In 1677-8 Robert Boyle fell victim to a French confidence trickster, Georges Pierre des Clozets, who claimed to belong to a secret society of alchemists, 'the Asterism'; the leader of the Asterism was described as the 'Patriarch of Antioch', resident in Constantinople. New evidence shows that Georges Pierre had contrived to publish two short articles about this 'Patriarch' in a Dutch newspaper, and that one of these was given to Boyle to corroborate Pierre's claims. These articles provide further information about (...) the nature of Pierre's invention. Most importantly, they show that his 'Patriarch of Antioch' was modelled on, and explicitly connected to, a contemporary alchemist in whom Boyle already had an interest: Francesco Giuseppe Borri. (shrink)

Presents the discovery that the majority of the so‐called ‘Hobbes Manuscripts’ preserved at Chatsworth are not in Hobbes's hand, but in that of his friend Robert Payne; they probably passed to Hobbes only after Payne's death. Using this information, and a reconstruction of part of Payne's library, it describes Payne's career and intellectual life, and tries to assess the nature of his relationship with Hobbes. It also examines the quasi‐mechanistic treatise known as the ‘Short Tract’, and argues that this work (...) was composed not by Hobbes but by Payne. (shrink)

Thomas Hobbes is one of the most important figures in the history of European thought. Although interest in his life and work has grown enomrously in recent years, this is the first complete edition of his correspondence. The texts of the letters are richly supplemented with explanatory notes and full biographical and bibliographical information. This landmark publication sheds new light in abundance on the intellectual life of a major thinker.

Thomas Hobbes is one of the most important figures in the history of European thought. Although interest in his life and work has grown enomrously in recent years, this is the first complete edition of his correspondence. The texts of the letters are richly supplemented with explanatory notes and full biographical and bibliographical information. This landmark publication sheds new light in abundance on the intellectual life of a major thinker.

Noel Malcolm presents his long-awaited critical edition of one of the most important philosophical works ever written. Hobbes's Leviathan (1651) is a classic of political theory and of English prose, studied at every university in the world. The English and Latin versions of the text are fully annotated, with a book-length introduction.

Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan is one of the most important philosophical texts in the English language, and one of the most influential works of political philosophy ever written. This Introduction accompanies Noel Malcolm's long-awaited critical edition, and gives a path-breaking account of the work's context, sources, and textual history.

This is the first critical edition of Hobbes's Leviathan based on a full study of the manuscript and printing history, and the first to place the English text alongside Hobbes's later Latin version of it. Both texts are fully annotated with explanatory notes. Noel Malcolm's definitive edition sets the study of Hobbes's masterwork on a new basis.

Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan is one of the most important philosophical texts in the English language, and one of the most influential works of political philosophy ever written. This is the first critical edition based on a full study of the manuscript and printing history. It is also the first edition to place the English text side by side with Hobbes's later Latin version of it, complete with a set of notes in which the many passages that differ in the Latin (...) are translated into English. So, for the first time, readers of Leviathan will be able to see clearly every stage of the development of the text. Both texts are fully annotated with explanatory notes. The editor's Introduction, which takes up the whole of the first volume, gives a path-breaking account of the work's context, sources, and textual history. This definitive edition will set the study of Hobbes's masterwork on a new basis. (shrink)

Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan is one of the most important philosophical texts in the English language, and one of the most influential works of political philosophy ever written. This is the first critical edition based on a full study of the manuscript and printing history. It is also the first edition to place the English text side by side with Hobbes's later Latin version of it, complete with a set of notes in which the many passages that differ in the Latin (...) are translated into English. So, for the first time, readers of Leviathan will be able to see clearly every stage of the development of the text. Both texts are fully annotated with explanatory notes. The editor's Introduction, which takes up the whole of the first volume, gives a path-breaking account of the work's context, sources, and textual history. This definitive edition will set the study of Hobbes's masterwork on a new basis. (shrink)

In a previous study the author proposed that the second edition of Leviathan arose from an abortive attempt to print the text in London in 1670, and consisted partly of sheets salvaged from that attempt, and partly of new sheets printed in Amsterdam later in the 1670s. This article defends and amplifies that account of the printing. It responds to the alternative account presented by the late Karl Schuhmann, noting some problematic features of his theory; it considers the evidence of (...) misprints and typographical changes in the Bear; it offers an analysis of the skeleton formes, which, combined with the evidence of misprints, confirms the scenario previously presented; and it also presents some new external evidence which helps to identify the publishers of the Bear edition. (shrink)

In a previous study the author proposed that the third edition of Leviathan was produced not long before 1702 . An alternative view, dating the edition to 1670 and suggesting that it incorporated corrections by Hobbes, was put forward by the late Karl Schuhmann; it was based on both typographical and textual evidence. This article considers Schuhmann's arguments and finds them unconvincing. It also adduces some new evidence , on the basis of which it proposes that this edition was produced (...) in the period 1695-1702, probably by the printer John Darby. (shrink)

Puts forward an account of the printing and publishing history of the second edition of Leviathan—an edition that has the same date as the first, is known to be a later production, but has never hitherto been dated with any accuracy. With the help of bibliographical evidence and details drawn from the archives of the Stationers’ Company, a fairly detailed account of the history of this edition can be constructed. What the evidence shows is that this so‐called ‘Bear’ edition was (...) first printed in 1670 in London; that the printing was partly confiscated by the Stationers’ Company; and that the remaining sheets were then combined with sheets produced by a Dutch printer in the period 1675–8. (shrink)

Hobbes's manuscript refutation of Thomas White bears no title. Some modern scholars have proposed, on the basis of references to it by Mersenne, that the work was entitled 'De motu, loco et tempore', and the abbreviated version of this, 'De motu', has become current in modern scholarship. This research note analyses Mersenne's references, and concludes that this apparent title was a descriptive phrase introduced by Mersenne himself. The full description included the term 'philosophia' ; this suggests a double focus, not (...) only on the manuscript text, but also on Hobbes's 'body' of natural philosophy more generally. (shrink)