As its full Latin title Elementorum philosophiae sectio prima De corpore implies, it was part of a larger work, conceived as a trilogy.
[2] Although the chosen title would suggest a work of natural philosophy, De Corpore is largely devoted to foundational matters.
[6] Some proofs in the work being "botched", as Noel Malcolm puts it, De Corpore had a negative effect on Hobbes's scholarly reputation.
[2] The inclusion of a claimed solution for squaring the circle, an apparent afterthought rather than a systematic development, led to an extended pamphlet war in the Hobbes-Wallis controversy.
No revised edition appeared until 1668, when De Corpore was included in the Opera philosophica collection of Hobbes' works.