Single Idea 7559

[catalogued under 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 6. Physicalism]

Full Idea

The world is corporeal, that is to say, body...and every part of the universe is body, and that which is not body is no part of the universe.

Gist of Idea

Every part of the universe is body, and non-body is not part of it

Source

Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], IV.46)

Book Reference

Hobbes,Thomas: 'Leviathan', ed/tr. Macpherson,C.B. [Penguin 1981], p.689


A Reaction

[Hobbes concedes existence to visible spirits, but not invisible ones]. This is the kind of remark which got Hobbes hated. It is also the sort of thing that makes him the best candidate for the 'first modern man'.