The book deals with the political value of the translations of the Homeric poems made by Thomas Hobbes in the 70s of the XVII century. Under censorship and at the fringes of the political debate, the philosopher, in the last years of his life, could not freely write. So he chose to translate from Greek into English the Iliad and the Odyssey, in order to make them, as Eric Nelson (2008) writes, "a continuation of Leviathan by other means". The analysis, starting from a lexical perspective, moves to the dimension of the history of ideas and highlights how Hobbes modifies the original texts in order to reach his target. Two elements are particularly taken into account: the management of the dichotomy sovereign-subjects and the careful handling of that lexicon able to cast doubt on the human genesis of political power. Due to the translations, Hobbes was successful in continuing to spread these political ideas also in a such so difficult situation.

Hobbes e Omero: una traduzione "politica"?

CATANZARO, ANDREA
2015-01-01

Abstract

The book deals with the political value of the translations of the Homeric poems made by Thomas Hobbes in the 70s of the XVII century. Under censorship and at the fringes of the political debate, the philosopher, in the last years of his life, could not freely write. So he chose to translate from Greek into English the Iliad and the Odyssey, in order to make them, as Eric Nelson (2008) writes, "a continuation of Leviathan by other means". The analysis, starting from a lexical perspective, moves to the dimension of the history of ideas and highlights how Hobbes modifies the original texts in order to reach his target. Two elements are particularly taken into account: the management of the dichotomy sovereign-subjects and the careful handling of that lexicon able to cast doubt on the human genesis of political power. Due to the translations, Hobbes was successful in continuing to spread these political ideas also in a such so difficult situation.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/818240
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