and Locke in brackets, bearing in mind that the Latin text of Hobbes
is a revision published in 1668. In the case of Locke, Latin is the
original text.^2
Hobbes’s use of‘acknowledge’reveals a complex relationship to the
Augustinian tradition ofagnosco. Some aspects of this relationship
have been observed in a recent study by Kinch Hoekstra. Although
Hoekstra assumes a simplified distinction betweenagnitioandcognitio
in Augustine, he is on the right track in claiming that Augustine’s
agnitiomeans personal acknowledgement and that this attitude can
also coexist with such faith that does not entail the proof of knowledge.^3
Given his account ofagnitio, Hoekstra presents the following
claim. The so-called ninth law of nature inLeviathan, namely,‘that
every man acknowledge other for his Equall by Nature’, does not
necessarily teach full natural equality but only that it is natural to
assume such an equality. The context in Hobbes lends plausibility to
this claim, as Hobbes pays attention to two different cases:
If Nature therefore have made equall; that equalitie is to be acknow-
ledged (agnoscenda est): or if Nature have made man unequall; yet
because men that think themselves equall, will not enter into conditions
of Peace, but upon Equall termes, such equalitie must be admitted. And
therefore for the ninth law of Nature, I put this, That every man
acknowledge other for his Equall by Nature (homines inter se natura
aequales esse).^4In other words, Hobbes teaches that an acknowledgement of equality
is always the best option, irrespective of natural facts. This sense of
‘acknowledge’is compatible with the Christian tradition ofagnosco
while also emphasizing the subjective dimension of personal convic-
tion more strongly than the religious tradition normally does. Hobbes
assumes that the act of acknowledgement emerges fairly autono-
mously in the subject. The tradition ofagnitio veritatisrather thinks
that the object to be recognized exercises an influence that enables
and even creates the act of acknowledgement. The passage in Hobbes
quoted suggests that the autonomous act of acknowledgement creates
its object, i.e. equality.
(^2) For Hobbes, I use the Latin–English edition of Malcolm (2012). For Locke, I use
his Latin text as edited by Klibansky (1968) and thefirst English translation by Popple
(orig. 1689).
(^3) Hoekstra 2013, 107.
(^4) Leviathan, 15, 234–5. In Latin,agnoscois only employed in thefirst part of quote.
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