Book Reviews and Notices : De Cive or The Citizen. BY THOMAS HOBBES. EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY STERLING P. LAMPRECHT. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1949. Pp. xxxi, 211. $1.75.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200427
• Date: 01 December 1949
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Author: Arnaud B. Leavelle
• Subject Matter: Articles

644

to

the

rank

and

file

Labourite

to

whom

the

essay

is

presumably

addressed.

And,

of

course,

this

is

a

subject

upon

which

Laski

is

hardly

&dquo;objective&dquo;;

the

essay

must

be

used,

by

those

who

do

not

live

within

the

Myth,

in

the

same

way

in

which

they

would

make

use

of

a

treatment

of

Holy

Writ

by

an

ecclesiastical

scholar.

It

is

in

fact

difficult

to

characterize

this

essay

without

slipping

into

the

idiom

of

religion.

It

is

first

of

all

a

tract,

but

contains

also

elements

of

the

concordance,

the

devotional,

the

exegesis,

the

gloss,

the

anthem,

the

polemic.

Occasionally,

Laski

the

historian,

Laski

the

critic,

or

Laski

the

political

scientist

breaks

through

for

a

paragraph

or

even

a

page.

But

for

the

most

part

we

have

here

Laski

the

convert.

Stylistically,

the

essay

is

Laski

at

his

brilliant

best,

for

which

(to

judge

from

a

statement

in

the

Preface)

the

continuing

shortage

of

paper

in

England

is

responsible.

Absent

are

the

unbelievable

wordiness,

the

pon-

derous

double

negatives,

the

simple

errors

of

fact,

of

The

American

Demo-

cracy.

In

this

case,

if

you

like

the

product,

you

get

your

money’s

worth.

University

of

California.

DWIGHT

WALDO.

De

Cive

or

The

Citizen.

BY

THOMAS

HOBBES.

EDITED

AND

WITH

AN

IN-

TRODUCTION

BY

STERLING

P.

LAMPRECHT.

(New

York:

Appleton-

Century-Crofts.

1949.

Pp.

xxxi,

211.

$1.75.)

This

edition

is

the

first

since

the

Molesworth

of

1841,

and

is

more

faithful

to

the

text

of

Hobbes’

own

English

translation

of

the

work

published

in

1651.

It

includes

a

reproduction

of

the

title

page,

dedication,

and

preface.

Professor

Lamprecht

has

added

a

bibliography

and

a

brief,

but

lucid

and

helpful,

introduction.

De

Cive

was

the

first

of

Hobbes’

writings

in

political

philosophy,

and

Professor

Lamprecht

makes

a

good

argument

that

it

indicates

&dquo;the

essen-

tial

courses

of

Hobbes’

systematic

thought

[rather

than]

the

intensity

of

his

hates&dquo;

(p.

xix).

The

central

passages

(see,

inter

alia,

pp.

55-59)

do

reveal

clearly

that

Hobbes’

conceptions

of

justice

and

right

are

primarily

juridical

or

legalistic

and

that,

in

his

view,

individual

definitions

are

inevitably

corrupted

by

the

passion

for

present

profit.

Here,

of

course,

is

the

central

point

and

the

fatal

error.

Without

the

conviction

that

the

human

reason

is

supported

by

the

will

to

act

for

the

common

good,

there

can

be

no

reason

to

prefer

freedom

to

authority.

Instructors

in

the

field

of

political

theory

will

find

this

edition

of

De

Cive

an

essential

companion

piece

to

the

Leviathan.

Stanford

University.

ARNAUD

B.

LEAVELLE.