''De Cive'' ("On the citizen") is one of

Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book '' Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influ ...

's major works. The book was published originally in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1642, followed by two further Latin editions in 1647 from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. The English translation of the work made its first appearance four years later (London 1651) under the title ''Philosophicall rudiments concerning government and society''. It anticipates themes of the better-known ''

Leviathan Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...

''. The famous phrase ''

bellum omnium contra omnes ', a Latin phrase meaning "the war of all against all", is the description that Thomas Hobbes gives to human existence in the state-of-nature thought experiment that he conducts in ''De Cive'' (1642) and '' Leviathan'' (1651). The common modern ...

'' ("war of all against all") appeared first in ''De Cive''.

Background

''De Cive'' is the first of a trilogy of works written by Hobbes dealing with human

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distin ...

, the other two works in the trilogy being ''

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 '' ...

'' ("On the body"), published in 1655 and ''De Homine'' ("On man"), published in 1658. Because of the political turmoil of the time, namely the unrest leading up to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

of 1642, Hobbes hastily "ripened and plucked" the work which would systematically come last: ''De Cive''. This work comprises three parts: Libertas (liberty), Imperium (dominion), and Religio (religion). In the first part, he describes man's natural condition, dealing with the

natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...

s; in the second, the necessity of establishing a stable government is indicated. Finally, in the third part, he writes about religion.

Publication

''De Cive'' was finished in November 1641 – before the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

(thus arguments repeated a decade later in ''Leviathan'' cannot exclusively be influenced by that war). The book was published in Latin in 1642; a revised edition appeared in 1647. It was translated into English, entitled ''Philosophicall Rudiments Concerning Government and Society'' (published in 1651).

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the '' Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist ...

testifies that Hobbes translated part of the work into English himself with such success that an intended translator would rather leave Hobbes to do the job;''

Brief Lives ''Brief Lives'' is a collection of short biographies written by John Aubrey (1626–1697) in the last decades of the 17th century. Writing Aubrey initially began collecting biographical material to assist the Oxford scholar Anthony Wood, who ...

'' 1669–1696, ed. A. Clark, vol. II, p. 277. it is not certain whether this was indeed the case. The edition of the work by H. Warrender (Latin and English versions; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983) is at present standard.

References

External links

Full text
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* {{Authority control 1642 books Books in political philosophy Books by Thomas Hobbes Ethics books 17th-century Latin books

Background

Publication

See also

References

External links