ホッブズのリヴァイアサンとは鯨のことか

概要

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Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) doesn't use the word leviathan in The Elements of Law (1640) and De Cive (1642). He uses this word in Leviathan (1651) for the first time. In chap.28 of Leviathan he says that he took 'leviathan' out of 'the two last verses of the one and fortieth of Job'. And some of the Hobbes's commentators interpreted Hobbes's leviathan as an aquatic monster. Hobbes, however, says in "Introduction" of Leviathan that the leviathan is an artificial man. What on earth does Hobbes's leviathan mean? This paper examined linguistically how to use the word leviathan in Leviathan in order to seek the true meaning of Hobbes's leviathan. From the linguistic examination it follows that leviathan is the metaphor of the artificial man and the artificial man is the metaphor of the commonwealth. Therefore, both the leviathan and the artificial man are only the metaphor to make the readers understand Hobbes's commonwealth easily.
2005-03-31