Hooke's law is an intermediary. To derive the finite element equations Ku=f, you start with the principle of virtual work. You may recall that principle from your strength of materials classes. The principle of virtual work relates the virtual strain energy stored up in a body to the virtual work of the applied external forces. In the virtual strain energy part of the equation, therefore, you have a bunch of stresses and strains. Since your ultimate goal is an equation relating the displacements 'u' to some forcing function 'f', if you are using Hooke's law to describe the relationship between strains and stresses, you then go into the integrals that form the principal of virtual work statement and start substituting the Hooke's law strains for the stresses in this strain energy part of the equation. You know the definitions of the strains in terms of displacement derivatives, so you swap out the strains for the displacement derivatives. A few manipulations of the virtual strain energy integral (sometimes using Green's theorem I recall) and voila, you have the K*u in the Ku=f relationship. 'K' is the stiffness matrix and 1/K is the compliance, as already has been pointed out.