Rethinking Liberty before Liberalism

Reflects on histories of freedom and republicanism through a major new reappraisal of Quentin Skinner's Liberty before Liberalism.

Hannah Dawson (Edited by), Annelien de Dijn (Edited by)

9781108948395, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 February 2022

330 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.7 cm, 0.45 kg

'As someone who has had Liberty before Liberalism on my syllabus for a few years now, I cannot but welcome a new publication aimed at rethinking Skinner's book … The new volume has a lot to offer to those who developed a thirst for an intellectual sequel after reading the original work.' Evgeny Roshchin, Redescriptions: Political Thought, Conceptual History and Feminist Theory

Opens up new histories of freedom and republicanism by building on Quentin Skinner's ground-breaking Liberty before Liberalism nearly twenty five years after its initial publication. Leading historians and philosophers reveal the neo-Roman conception of liberty that Skinner unearthed as a normative and historical hermeneutic tool of enormous, ongoing power. The volume thinks with neo-Romanism to offer reinterpretations of individual thinkers, such as Montaigne, Grotius and Locke. It probes the role of neo-Roman liberty within hierarchies and structures beyond that of citizen and state – namely, gender, slavery, and democracy. Finally, it reassesses the relationships between neo-Romanism and other languages in the history of political thought: liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and the human rights tradition. The volume concludes with a major reappraisal by Skinner himself.

Introduction Hannah Dawson and Annelien de Dijn
Part I. Authors: 1. Freedom without republicanism: the case of Montaigne Felicity Green
2. Hugo Grotius on freedom of will and self-government: Greek, patristic and roman legacies Martin van Gelderen
3. Liberty before licence in Locke Hannah Dawson
Part II. Hierarchies: 4. Liberty and hierarchy in Milton's revolutionary prose Rachel Foxley
5. Democratic republicanism in the early modern period Annelien de Dijn
6. Gender, liberty, participation and virtue: what the eighteenth century can teach us about republicanism Sandrine Bergès
7. Liberty, death, and slavery in the age of atlantic revolutions, 1770s-1790s René Koekkoek
Part III. Traditions: 8. Beyond the 'wretched subterfuge': liberalism, freedom, and responsibility Eric Nelson
9. 'A just and true liberty': the idea of (neo-roman) freedom in francophone counter-revolutionary thought c. 1780-1800 Matthijs Lok
10. Chains and invisible threads: liberty and domination in Marx's account of wage-slavery Bruno Leipold
11. Republican liberty in the philosophy of human rights Lena Halldenius
Conclusion: on neo-roman liberty: a response and reassessment Quentin Skinner.

Subject Areas: Liberalism & centre democratic ideologies [JPFK], History of ideas [JFCX], Philosophy [HP]