Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 A summary biography of Hobbes
- 2 Hobbes's scheme of the sciences
- 3 First philosophy and the foundations of knowledge
- 4 Hobbes and the method of natural science
- 5 Hobbes and mathematics
- 6 Hobbes on light and vision
- 7 Hobbes's psychology
- 8 Hobbes's moral philosophy
- 9 Hobbes's political philosophy
- 10 Lofty science and local politics
- 11 Hobbes on law
- 12 History in Hobbes's thought
- 13 Hobbes on rhetoric
- 14 Hobbes on religion
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - First philosophy and the foundations of knowledge
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2006
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 A summary biography of Hobbes
- 2 Hobbes's scheme of the sciences
- 3 First philosophy and the foundations of knowledge
- 4 Hobbes and the method of natural science
- 5 Hobbes and mathematics
- 6 Hobbes on light and vision
- 7 Hobbes's psychology
- 8 Hobbes's moral philosophy
- 9 Hobbes's political philosophy
- 10 Lofty science and local politics
- 11 Hobbes on law
- 12 History in Hobbes's thought
- 13 Hobbes on rhetoric
- 14 Hobbes on religion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Hobbes's philosophical project is bound up with a rational reconstruction of knowledge. At what point did this reconstruction become associated with a first philosophy that was intended to explicate the most basic concepts and principles of knowledge? Did the development of the first philosophy coincide with the formulation, at the end of 1636 or the beginning of 1637, of a complete system of philosophy: corpus, homo, civis, which was to lead to Elementa philosophiae, or did it come later? Did the first philosophy have something to do with the logic that Hobbes was questioned about in Kenelm Digby's letters? It is difficult to give firm answers to these questions because the dating of the manuscripts marking the successive stages of the composition of the first philosophy is for the most part uncertain.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes , pp. 62 - 85Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996
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