To provide a linear driving device that operates silently and achieves a load to generate a markedly large driving force.

A linear driving device includes: a plurality of magnetic poles comprised of an annular ring of a soft magnetic body whose outside is fixed to the inside of a cylindrical shaped soft magnetic body; exciting coils for exciting a pair of magnetic poles adjacent to each other; a plurality of soft magnetic body columns disposed in an operating element supported slidably along the axis of the cylindrical shaped soft magnetic body by bearings respectively disposed on both side parts of the cylindrical shaped soft magnetic body, the soft magnetic body columns having an outer side surface opposed to magnetic pole surfaces with a slight gap interposed therebetween; and an energization control circuit that generates a relative driving force between the soft magnetic body columns and the magnetic poles by controlling energization to the corresponding exciting coil via an output obtained by detecting positions of the soft magnetic body columns by a position detection element.