The Commonwealth as a Person in Hobbes's Leviathan

Author: Tukiainen, Arto

Source: Hobbes Studies, Volume 7, Number 1, 1994 , pp. 44-55(12)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

By now, it has become a commonplace to say that Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan is a work of rigorous reasoning wrapped up in rhetorical turns of speech.¹ In this paper, my intention is to unravel one of the most powerful metaphors of that work, the metaphor of the commonwealth as a person. First, I shall try to locate the precise point at which the metaphor is meant to operate. After that, I shall focus on the metaphor itself. The third section is devoted to an examination of the power effects of the metaphor.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187502594X00045

Affiliations: 1: University of Helsinki

Publication date: 1994-01-01