Freshly Printed - allow 7 days lead
Couldn't load pickup availability
A History of Political Thought
From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
Janet Coleman (Author)
9780631186533, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 23 April 2000
320 pages
24.9 x 17.3 x 2.1 cm, 0.572 kg
"This is a very well-informed, thoughtful and scholarly account that is destined to be read closely (and with great profit) by specialists in the field as well as by the students for whom it is primarily intended." Francis Oakley, Edward Dorr Professor of the History of Ideas and President Emeritus of Williams College "Professor Coleman demonstrates an admirable grasp of the detail and subtlety of the philosophical arguments, and their relation to social and historial circumstances, including trends in wider spheres of thought [...] I found the chapter on Plato particularly illuminating and students will find much of ambiguity in The Republic clarified by Coleman's discussion.[...] Students of specialist courses in Greek, Stoic and early Christian political thought will gain much from this scholarly and erudite book by an acknowledged expert in the field"
David Boucher, Cardiff University English Historical Review Vol 117, June 2002
This volume continues the story of European political theorising by focusing on medieval and Renaissance thinkers. It includes extensive discussion of the practices that underpinned medieval political theories and which continued to play crucial roles in the eventual development of early-modern political institutions and debates. The author strikes a balance between trying to understand the philosophical cogency of medieval and Renaissance arguments on the one hand, elucidating why historically-suited medieval and Renaissance thinkers thought the ways they did about politics; and why we often think otherwise.
Preface viii Introduction 1 1 Medieval Political Ideas and Medieval Society 5 Medieval Sources 9 The Historical Context of Early Medieval Political Thought 11 Carolingian Christian Kingship and Feudal Society 13 Translatio Imperii 18 Theocratic Kingship 19 The Origins of Papal Authority and the Gelasian Doctrine 22 Two Swords Theory 28 The Twelfth-century ‘Renaissance’: Canon Lawyers and their Heirs 29 The Twelfth-century ‘Renaissance’ and the Civil Lawyers 33 Civilians and Canonists 37 Individual and Collective Liberties 38 Sovereignty and Corporations 42 Natural Law, Rights and the Lawyers’ Concern for Individual Autonomy 46 Origins of Property Rights 49 Medieval Education: Practical Moral Philosophy of Ethics, Economics and Politics 50 The Contribution of Arabic and Jewish Thinking to the Twelfth-century ‘Renaissance’ 54 Aristotle in the Universities 56 Ethics and Politics in the Liberal Arts Course 57 The Purpose of Aristotelian Rhetorical Persuasion 59 The Thirteenth ‘Aristotelian’ Century 61 The Later Thirteenth-century Understanding of Rhetoric’s Service to a Prince: Giles of Rome 64 Aristotelian Rhetoric 65 Returning to Giles of Rome’s Rhetorical De regimine principum 69 Rhetoric outside the University and Aristotle within the University 71 Aristotle’s Ethics for Medieval University Students 73 Lawyers versus the Arts Faculty Philosophers 76 The New Mendicant Orders: Franciscans and Dominicans and Political Theory 77 2 St Thomas Aquinas 81 Philosophy of Man 84 Reality and Metaphysics 84 Naming, Natures and Actual Existents 86 Natures and Definitions 87 Substantial Form and Corporeal Individuation 88 Being and Essence 90 Cause and Effect 91 Grace Added to and Perfecting, Not Destroying, Nature 92 Sense Origin of Knowing 92 Reason and Will 95 The Will’s Relation to Justice as Universal Principle and as Historically Contingent Conclusion 97 Eudaimonia/beatitudo: Immortality and the Completion of Desire 98 Rationality and the Freedom of the Will 99 The Will and the Doctrine of Original Sin 100 Natural Theology 101 State and Church: The Consequences of Natural Theology 102 Free Will and Responsibility 104 Aquinas on Law and Politics 104 Natural Law beyond Cicero 105 Natural Human Community 106 The Consequences of the Fall 109 Individual Rights and the State’s Law 110 The Contrast with Augustine 112 The Mixed Constitution 113 Private Property Rights 115 3 John of Paris 118 Biographical Details 120 The Franciscan Position 122 The Dominican Position 123 The Origin of Government 124 The Thomistic Underpinning of dominium in rebus, Lordship and Ownership of Things 126 The Justification of Private Ownership 127 Limitations on Government 130 The Origin of the Priesthood 130 The Relation of the Church to its Property 132 Deposition Theory 133 4 Marsilius of Padua 134 Biographical Details 138 A Reading of Discourse 1 139 Some Observations from Discourse 2 158 Conclusion 166 5 William of Ockham 169 Biographical Details 170 Ockham’s Positions on Church and State 171 Ockham’s Epistemology 172 Ockham’s Dualism Concerning Secular and Spiritual Government: Continuing the Narrative 175 Comparisons with Marsilius 177 The Exceptional Exercise of Coercive Authority 178 Natural Rights 179 Corporation Theory 179 Ockham’s ‘Absolutism’ 181 How did Ockham Come to Hold These Views? 181 Right Reason 185 Scriptural Hermeneutics 188 Ockham’s Ethics 189 Conclusion 191 The Late Medieval Fortunes of Corporation Theories in the Church’s ‘Conciliar Theory’ 193 6 The Italian Renaissance and Machiavelli’s Political Theory 199 The Italian City-states Compared with Other European Cities 199 The Unconventional Aims of this Chapter 203 Communal Discourses and Citizenship 207 Urban Commerce 212 The Venetian Way 213 Perceived Benefits of Citizen Status 215 Community, Civitas, Ranked Citizenship and Local Patriotisms 216 The Involvement of Citizens in Late Thirteenth-century Communal Government 219 The Communal Ideal and the Menace of Factions 220 The Evolution of the Florentine Governing Class 222 Who Wanted to Play an Active Role in Fifteenth-century Florentine Government? 228 Humanism and Humanist Conceptions of Florentine Republicanism 230 Fifteenth-century Florentine Ideology 238 Niccolò Machiavelli 241 Machiavelli’s Political Morality 247 Founding and Maintaining the ‘Stato’ 251 The Fixity of Man’s Nature 252 Character Formation 254 The ‘Fit’ Between Character and the Times 256 Fortune 257 The Impetuous Prince Who Must Learn How Not to Have Fixed Dispositions 260 Learn to Imitate Foxes and Lions 262 Machiavelli’s ‘Popular’ Government: His Views of the Popolo 266 Conclusion 272 Bibliography 277 Index 291
Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP]
