Preface 1. The Notion of Rhetoric 2. Figurative Language in Philosophical Understanding 3. Hobbes on Language and Rhetoric 5. Hobbes and the Engraved Title-Page of Leviathan 6. Hobbes and Hooker 7. Allegory and Philosophy in Leviathan 8. Conclusion. Illustrations: Examples of Seventeenth-Century Engraved Title-Pages

Originally published in 1991. This book presents Leviathan in terms of the philosophical character of the work considered through Hobbes' use of language to express and organise his thought. Throughout, the nature of the relationship between rhetoric and philosophy is discussed and problems of language in philosophical understanding.