Book: De Corpore

Introduction

De Corpore (1655) is Thomas Hobbes's systematic statement of natural philosophy and metaphysics written in Latin as part of his Elementa philosophica. It aims to establish an account of bodies, motion, and knowledge that serves as the scientific foundation for his moral and political theorizing. The work rejects scholastic Aristotelian forms and teleology, replacing them with a mechanistic, materialist ontology that reduces all phenomena to matter in motion.

Structure and Method

Hobbes organizes his argument with an emphasis on definitions, axioms, and demonstrative reasoning modeled on geometry and Euclid. Foundational concepts such as "body, " "motion, " "cause, " "place, " and "time" receive precise lexical treatment so that subsequent propositions can be deduced with clarity. Logical rules governing language and signification appear early because Hobbes treats propositions and discourse as instruments for reasoning about nature rather than mirrors of metaphysical essences.

Materialist Ontology

At the core is a doctrine that everything real is corporeal: all that exists consists of bodies and their motion. Mental phenomena are accounted for as configurations or motions within material substrates, denying any immaterial souls or substantial forms. Perception, thought, and volition are described in terms of sense-impressions, internal motion, and the succession of mental images; hence knowledge depends on the body's interaction with external bodies and the capacity to record and combine sensory data.

Logic, Language, and Knowledge

Hobbes devotes substantial attention to the principles of signification and demonstration because clear naming and valid inference are prerequisites for reliable knowledge. Language is treated as a system of signs that mediates between sensation and reason; failures in politics and religion are often attributed to ambiguous or abused speech. Demonstration follows axiomatic rules, but Hobbes is keenly aware of the limits of human intellect and the role of definitions in securing deductive chains.

Geometry, Mathematics, and Physics

Geometry and arithmetic receive special status as paradigms of demonstrative science, yet Hobbes insists they ultimately depend on the mechanical relations among bodies. Geometrical method provides the model for rigorous exposition, while physical explanations appeal to contact, motion, and collision. Natural phenomena such as heat, color, and chemical mixture are analyzed through motion and shape of particles, and causation is rendered as transmission of motion rather than appeal to occult qualities.

Human Nature and the Grounding of Politics

The account of human cognition and appetite yields a conception of people as moved creatures whose desires and aversions are natural motions. Social and political arrangements are thus intelligible as devices to regulate and coordinate bodily motions for safety and convenience. Hobbes's later political arguments draw on these premises: the social contract, sovereignty, and law are grounded in a scientific psychology that situates human aims and fears within a deterministic network of causes.

Reception and Legacy

De Corpore was influential insofar as it attempted to place moral and political theory on a natural-philosophical footing and to promote a systematic mechanistic science. Contemporaries debated its reductionism and its insistence on the primacy of geometry-like method, and later philosophers engaged critically with Hobbes's materialism and linguistic theory. The work remains important for understanding how early modern thinkers sought to unify natural philosophy, logic, and politics into a single explanatory scheme.