Abstract

This article focuses on how Thomas Hobbes and his critics worked out the concept of concord. It aims to test the hypothesis that there has been a «Hobbesian turn» concerning concord. In order to verify this hypothesis we will undertake a close analysis of the occurrences of the term «concord» in Hobbes' central texts and Richard Cumberland's "De Legibus Naturae". It will be argued that - despite Hobbes' pivotal role - the notion of concord has become less prominent in the main treatises on the law of nature and nations as a consequence of a comprehensive transformation of this discipline that cannot be traced exclusively to the influence of Hobbes.