Elementa Philosophiae
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The Elementa Philosophiae ( nlat. The elements of philosophy ) is the three-part main work of Thomas Hobbes . It was published 1642–1658.
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Part one: About the body
The first part contains the most detailed and complete account of Hobbes' materialistic system. Hobbes claims that there is only one physical, material substance (matter). In the following, the whole first part is about a representation of the bodies and their movements. So there is nothing but these movements, also in the human psyche. All explanation of the world is an explanation of the movement of the smallest parts, including the movements of our bodies. It should be clear that Descartes has already done good preparatory work, with its mechanistic world view because, although Hobbes the dualism of Descartes so not join in.
Part Two: About Man
The second part contains Hobbes psychology or anthropology . Hobbes is a determinist , and so the position of causality is central to him. There is no free will with him, although in this point he is still partly entangled in contradictions. In his descriptive psychology, Hobbes differentiates between attractive forces and repulsive forces, and tries to explain the human psyche causally. In the end, the mind and thinking are also explained causally as a kind of arithmetic with words. Similar to Descartes, Hobbes also distrusts sensual perception . That is also the reason why he is not an empiricist , but is completely absorbed in the still young direction of rationalism .
Third part: About the citizen
Hobbes published this third, state-theoretical part of his main work several years before the first two parts. In essence, this work contains the ideas that we encounter again in the Leviathan .
Impact history
His materialism and determinism made Hobbes "the most hated author of his time", who incurred "the anger" not only of the church but also of politics.
Web links
- The "Elementorum philosophiae" as full text at Zeno.org in German translation by Julius Heinrich von Kirchmann