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"Hobbes' frontispiece" [2019] ELECD 1376; in Broekman, M. Jan (ed), "Rethinking Law and Language" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 26

Book Title: Rethinking Law and Language

Editor(s): Broekman, M. Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Hobbes’ frontispiece

Number of pages: 40

Abstract/Description:

The frontispiece of Hobbes’ Leviathan became famous. This work of art represents the main lines of the philosopher/statesman’s ideas. They refer to: (a) the power of the Sovereign and the position of the citizen; (b) the composure of the Torso that symbolizes State and Sovereignty in the eyes of the citizen; (c) the main feature of language in function; (d) the features of individualism implied; and (e) the legal consequences of the frontispiece image. The latter focus on a contractual interpretation of social life under the power of the Sovereign, which appears as a prescript for the citizen’s speech. Hobbes introduces here a linguistic model, later named the “Speaker–Hearer Model,” which determines our understanding of language even now. Traditional interpretations of Hobbes’ thought do not notice that connotation, although it is foreshadowed in the frontispiece of his widely read book.