A conatus: Spinoza kritikai Hobbes-olvasata
On the Conatus: Spinoza’s Critical Interpretation of Hobbes

Summary/Abstract: In this paper I shall shed light on a rather obscure field of the Spinoza research, trying to clarifythe question of which works by Hobbes Spinoza might have read. We know that Spinoza read De Cive. But it is only in De Corpore and in Leviathan that Hobbes gave a new sense to the concept of conatus which seems to have inspired Spinoza’s conatus in his Ethics. First I will clear up which books by Hobbes were available in Holland in Spinoza’s lifetime. I will then point out the similarities of their conatus-concepts. My arguments will lend support to the hypothesis that Spinoza did read the aforementioned texts. Finally, I will take a closer look at Spinoza’s critical remarks on Hobbes and Spinoza’s own conception of conatus, highlighting the number of differences between the two philosophers’ thinking.

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