Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes, His Embodied State, Its Contexts and Sources

About this book

Horst Bredekamp's subject is the surprising resonance of the image of the embodied state that dominates the frontispiece to Leviathan: the treatise on humanity in its "political" dimension published in 1651 by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Opening with a succinct exposition of how intimately this image is related to some of the fundamental themes addressed by Hobbes, Bredekamp then rigorously pursues the art-historical question of the authorship of the title-page. In the central chapters, the frontispiece is assessed in relation both to venerable visual and intellectual traditions and to some of the scientific innovations of the mid-17th century. The conclusion is devoted to the importance of several of the most far-reaching preoccupations of Hobbes as a profound and original thinker.