# Of the Several Subjects of Knowledge explained — Leviathan

> Chapter companion for Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes.

## What happens

Hobbes distinguishes between two kinds of knowledge: knowledge of fact (sense and memory, recorded as history) and knowledge of the consequence of one affirmation to another (science, recorded in books of philosophy). He further divides history into natural history (facts independent of man's will) and civil history (voluntary actions of men in commonwealths).

## Themes in this chapter

### Human Nature and Passions

The classification of knowledge into fact (sense and memory) and science (conditional reasoning) is grounded in Hobbes's understanding of human cognitive faculties.

## Key lines

> There are of 'knowledge' two kinds; whereof one is 'knowledge of fact': the other 'knowledge of the consequence of one affirmation to another.'

Knowledge is divided into two types: factual knowledge based on sense and memory, and scientific knowledge based on logical deduction.

_Hobbes establishes the foundational dichotomy of epistemology in this chapter._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leviathan_se/chapters/ix-of-the-several-subjects-of-knowledge
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leviathan_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leviathan_se/chapters