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Bibliography of Thomas Hobbes

  1. Elements of Law, Natural and Politic
    Initially circulated only in handwritten copies; without Hobbes’s permission, the first printed edition would be in 1650.
  2. Objectiones ad Cartesii Meditationes de Prima Philosophia 3rd series of Objections
  3. Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Tertia de Cive (Latin, 1st limited ed.).
  4. De Motu, Loco et Tempore
    First edition (1973) with the title: Thomas White’s De Mundo Examined
  5. A Minute or First Draught of the Optiques
  6. Of Liberty and Necessity (publ. 1654)
  7. Elementa Philosophica de Cive
  8. Human Nature: or The fundamental Elements of Policie
  9. The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic (pirated ed.)
  10. Philosophicall Rudiments concerning Government and Society – English translation of De Cive
  11. Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil
  12. Of Libertie and Necessitie, a Treatise
  13. De Corpore (in Latin)
  14. Elements of Philosophy, The First Section, Concerning Body – anonymous English translation of De Corpore
  15. Six Lessons to the Professor of Mathematics
  16. The Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance – reprint of Of Libertie and Necessitie, a Treatise, with the addition of Bramhall’s reply and Hobbes’s reply to Bramahall’s reply.
  17. Stigmai, or Marks of the Absurd Geometry, Rural Language, Scottish Church Politics, and Barbarisms of John Wallis
  18. Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Secunda De Homine
  19. Examinatio et emendatio mathematicae hodiernae qualis explicatur in libris Johannis Wallisii
  20. Dialogus physicus, sive De natura aeris
  21. Problematica Physica
    English translation titled: Seven Philosophical Problems (1682)
  22. Seven Philosophical Problems, and Two Propositions of Geometry – published posthumously
  23. De Principis & Ratiocinatione Geometrarum
  24. A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England (publ. 1681)
  25. Leviathan – Latin translation
  26. Three Papers Presented to the Royal Society Against Dr. Wallis. Together with Considerations on Dr. Wallis his Answer to them
  27. Rosetum Geometricum, sive Propositiones Aliquot Frustra antehac tentatae. Cum Censura brevi Doctrinae Wallisianae de Motu
  28. Lux Mathematica. Excussa Collisionibus Johannis Wallisii
  29. Principia et Problemata Aliquot Geometrica Antè Desperata, Nunc breviter Explicata & Demonstrata
  30. Decameron Physiologicum: Or, Ten Dialogues of Natural Philosophy

Secondary Sources

Lloyd, Sharon. Ideals as Interests in Hobbes’s Leviathan: The Power of Mind over Matter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Sharon’s work proposes that Hobbes’s political philosophy placed greater emphasis on transcendental interest, moral and religious beliefs, than previously acknowledged. She argued that Hobbes’s definition of human nature was more complex than the traditional image of a man purely interested in his own survival.

Sorell, Tom, etc. The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes provides a comprehensive overview of Hobbes’s philosophical system from his view on physics to moral and political philosophy.

Wolin, Sheldon S. Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought, Expanded Edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.
Politics and Vision is Sheldon Wolin’s magna opas of Sheldon Wolin first published in 1960. It’s a comprehensive history of western political thought from Plato to contemporary political theories. Wolin viewed Thomas Hobbes as one of the seminal political philosophers of the modern era and gave a detailed analysis of Hobbes’s political philosophy in the book.

Wolin, Sheldon S. Fugitive Democracy: And Other Essays. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
Fugitive Democracy is a collection of Wolin’s essays published after Wolin’s death in 2015. It includes three chapters that analyzed Thomas Hobbes’s motivation in creating his political philosophy, the nature of that philosophy, and what it showed about the nature of politics and theory creation in general.