Hobbes and Descartes on Anthropology: Is There a Debt of Hobbesian Anthropology to L’Homme?

Abstract

Hobbes didn’t know L’Homme of Descartes when he outlined his materialism, and controversies that opposed them (on optics and Meditationes) did not directly relate to physiology. However, this was probably the area where they were the closest. That’s why we here propose to trace the scheme of the Hobbesian physiology and its sources to estimate to what extent they are related or not to Descartes, or whether (which we support here) they seek common sources.