De Corpore

work by Hobbes

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

June 25, 2026

Quick Summary

De Corpore, published in 1655, is a foundational work by Thomas Hobbes that outlines his materialistic and mechanical philosophy. It is the first part of his trilogy, which also includes De Homine (Concerning Man) and De Cive (Concerning the Citizen).1

In De Corpore, Hobbes posits that only material things are real and that all phenomena can be explained through matter and motion. He believed that the subject matter of all natural sciences, from geometry to psychology, involves the motions of material things. For Hobbes, the mind is not a separate substance but is identical to the brain, with thoughts being mere motions of brain matter. This work aimed to establish a systematic understanding of natural science based on these materialist principles.231

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

4 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

Thomas Hobbes
Intellectual development of Thomas Hobbes
His great trilogy—De Corpore (1655; “Concerning Body”), De Homine (1658; “Concerning Man”), and De Cive (1642; “Concerning the Citizen”)—was his attempt to arrange the various pieces of natural science, as well as psychology and politics, into a hierarchy, ranging from the most general and fundamental to the…
Read More
His great trilogy—De Corpore (1655; “Concerning Body”), De Homine (1658; “Concerning Man”), and De Cive (1642; “Concerning the Citizen”)—was his attempt to arrange the various pieces of natural science, as well as psychology and politics, into a hierarchy, ranging from the most general and fundamental to the…
Read More

a priori knowledge
…by Thomas Hobbes in his De Corpore and adopted in the 20th century by the logical empiricists. According to this theory, statements of necessity are knowable a priori because they are merely by-products of rules governing the use of language. In the 1970s the American philosopher Saul Kripke challenged the…
Read More
…by Thomas Hobbes in his De Corpore and adopted in the 20th century by the logical empiricists. According to this theory, statements of necessity are knowable a priori because they are merely by-products of rules governing the use of language. In the 1970s the American philosopher Saul Kripke challenged the…
Read More