Pub Date : 2024-02-29DOI: 10.53765/20512988.45.1.1
Francesco Maria Scanni
The thought of Marsilius of Padua is full of interesting suggestions which represent real theoretical innovations in his time. This article, using a theoretical approach that focuses on conceptual analysis in a diachronic key, aims to highlight the innovative perspectives proposed by the political philosopher by comparing them with some of the most important later developments in modern political thought and, in particular, the democratic theory of power, which is based on some essential concepts, such as the secular character of institutions, the designation of the people as sovereign, the separation of powers, and the limitation of government.
{"title":"The Innovative Theory of Power and State of Marsilius of Padua","authors":"Francesco Maria Scanni","doi":"10.53765/20512988.45.1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.45.1.1","url":null,"abstract":"The thought of Marsilius of Padua is full of interesting suggestions which represent real theoretical innovations in his time. This article, using a theoretical approach that focuses on conceptual analysis in a diachronic key, aims to highlight the innovative perspectives proposed by\u0000 the political philosopher by comparing them with some of the most important later developments in modern political thought and, in particular, the democratic theory of power, which is based on some essential concepts, such as the secular character of institutions, the designation of the people\u0000 as sovereign, the separation of powers, and the limitation of government.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"1977 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140416863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-29DOI: 10.53765/20512988.45.1.39
Eduardo Schmidt Passos
This article investigates the philosophy of Siger of Brabant and Boethius of Dacia and their engagement with Thomas Aquinas to assess Leo Strauss’s philosophy. It discusses the relevance of the Latin Averroists for Strauss and the centrality of the eternity of the world to his philosophy. By contrasting the teachings of Siger and Boethius with the main Averroistic theses (the eternity of the world and the unity of the intellect) and assessing Thomas’s contributions to this debate, this article demonstrates the inadequacy of Strauss’s method of interpretation to comprehend the relationship between faith and reason for Christian medieval philosophy.
{"title":"Leo Strauss, The Latin Averroists and the Eternity of the World","authors":"Eduardo Schmidt Passos","doi":"10.53765/20512988.45.1.39","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.45.1.39","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the philosophy of Siger of Brabant and Boethius of Dacia and their engagement with Thomas Aquinas to assess Leo Strauss’s philosophy. It discusses the relevance of the Latin Averroists for Strauss and the centrality of the eternity of the world to his\u0000 philosophy. By contrasting the teachings of Siger and Boethius with the main Averroistic theses (the eternity of the world and the unity of the intellect) and assessing Thomas’s contributions to this debate, this article demonstrates the inadequacy of Strauss’s method of interpretation\u0000 to comprehend the relationship between faith and reason for Christian medieval philosophy.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"90 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140411116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-29DOI: 10.53765/20512988.45.1.124
Shterna Friedman
Hegel saw freedom not primarily as a property of the individual’s will, but of a totality (from which individual freedom is metaphysically derived). This aspect of Hegel’s political theory stemmed from his attempt to construct a state that could foster a renewal of Christian spirituality. This project had to confront the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire, which Hegel attributed to the self-interestedness of its component parts. This historical case for the priority of the whole over its parts, however, was soon supplanted by a philosophical argument for a political totality whose freedom entailed its subordination of conflicting parts within itself.
{"title":"Freedom and Totality: How Hegel Became Hegel","authors":"Shterna Friedman","doi":"10.53765/20512988.45.1.124","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.45.1.124","url":null,"abstract":"Hegel saw freedom not primarily as a property of the individual’s will, but of a totality (from which individual freedom is metaphysically derived). This aspect of Hegel’s political theory stemmed from his attempt to construct a state that could foster a renewal of Christian\u0000 spirituality. This project had to confront the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire, which Hegel attributed to the self-interestedness of its component parts. This historical case for the priority of the whole over its parts, however, was soon supplanted by a philosophical argument for a\u0000 political totality whose freedom entailed its subordination of conflicting parts within itself.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140415239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-29DOI: 10.53765/20512988.45.1.61
Kajo Kubala
This article offers an alternative description of the personality of the Hobbesian state by arguing that Leviathan is primarily a perpetual person based on Hobbes’s use of a corporate metaphor for its construction. It undertakes a genealogical examination of the role that perpetuity has played in the theory of corporations since the Middle Ages in several contexts, and concludes by considering the impact that the established tradition of thinking about the corporation as a perpetual entity had on Hobbes and his state, contending that Leviathan should be understood primarily as a persona perpetua tasked with providing a system of perpetual protection.
{"title":"Hobbes and the Perpetual Person of the State","authors":"Kajo Kubala","doi":"10.53765/20512988.45.1.61","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.45.1.61","url":null,"abstract":"This article offers an alternative description of the personality of the Hobbesian state by arguing that Leviathan is primarily a perpetual person based on Hobbes’s use of a corporate metaphor for its construction. It undertakes a genealogical examination of the role that perpetuity\u0000 has played in the theory of corporations since the Middle Ages in several contexts, and concludes by considering the impact that the established tradition of thinking about the corporation as a perpetual entity had on Hobbes and his state, contending that Leviathan should be understood primarily\u0000 as a persona perpetua tasked with providing a system of perpetual protection.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"81 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140410871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-29DOI: 10.53765/20512988.45.1.87
Timothy Brennan
This article suggests that the anti-bourgeois, illiberal character of Rousseau’s political philosophy has been exaggerated. In order to illustrate this point, I juxtapose Rousseau’s thought with that of Benjamin Franklin, the acknowledged embodiment of bourgeois liberalism in the eighteenth century. Although Franklin and Rousseau are often cast as opposites today, in their own time they were commonly linked – with, I think, considerable justification. Without insisting that Rousseau had a direct influence on Franklin, I argue that Franklin’s moral-political thought was largely consonant with that of his supposed antithesis.
{"title":"Rousseau, Franklin and Bourgeois Liberalism","authors":"Timothy Brennan","doi":"10.53765/20512988.45.1.87","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.45.1.87","url":null,"abstract":"This article suggests that the anti-bourgeois, illiberal character of Rousseau’s political philosophy has been exaggerated. In order to illustrate this point, I juxtapose Rousseau’s thought with that of Benjamin Franklin, the acknowledged embodiment of bourgeois liberalism\u0000 in the eighteenth century. Although Franklin and Rousseau are often cast as opposites today, in their own time they were commonly linked – with, I think, considerable justification. Without insisting that Rousseau had a direct influence on Franklin, I argue that Franklin’s moral-political\u0000 thought was largely consonant with that of his supposed antithesis.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"24 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140413206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-29DOI: 10.53765/20512988.45.1.15
Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran Cruz
In his dedication to The Prince, Machiavelli places himself in the position of the people who can discern the nature of princes; his text, however, suggests that he also, like a prince, understands the nature of the people. This double vision informs the reader throughout, as Machiavelli warns the Medici of the dangers to their rule while informing the people as to the weakness of their regime. This article further investigates the positive reference to Pope Sixtus IV, a reference that could not have endeared Machiavelli to the Medici. It then explores The Prince’s discourse around Pope Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia, both of whom would have been anathema to the Medici and Florentine people. Finally, Machiavelli draws a portrait of the new prince that echoes the hidden regal tyrant of Aristotle’s Politics. In conclusion, while Machiavelli’s Prince may have been instructive for the people, it could hardly have been favourably received by the Medici.
{"title":"Machiavelli’s Warning: The Medici, Florence, Rome and New Princes","authors":"Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran Cruz","doi":"10.53765/20512988.45.1.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.45.1.15","url":null,"abstract":"In his dedication to The Prince, Machiavelli places himself in the position of the people who can discern the nature of princes; his text, however, suggests that he also, like a prince, understands the nature of the people. This double vision informs the reader throughout, as\u0000 Machiavelli warns the Medici of the dangers to their rule while informing the people as to the weakness of their regime. This article further investigates the positive reference to Pope Sixtus IV, a reference that could not have endeared Machiavelli to the Medici. It then explores The Prince’s\u0000 discourse around Pope Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia, both of whom would have been anathema to the Medici and Florentine people. Finally, Machiavelli draws a portrait of the new prince that echoes the hidden regal tyrant of Aristotle’s Politics. In conclusion, while Machiavelli’s\u0000 Prince may have been instructive for the people, it could hardly have been favourably received by the Medici.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140415198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-29DOI: 10.53765/20512988.45.1.157
Luise Papcke
This article retraces in the thought of Wilhelm von Humboldt an account of the ideal of individuality which I propose to call ‘social individuality’. Against readings of Humboldt’s individualism as atomist, asocial and apolitical, I show how his conceptualization attends expressly to the social origins and the inherent interindividual and even collective dimension of individuality, while nevertheless insisting on the irreducible uniqueness of each human being. I show how this inherent sociability is anchored in his ideal of self-cultivation and, importantly, in his linguistic thought, which is often neglected in interpretations of Humboldt’s political theory. In concentrating on the social dimension of individual self-formation, I argue, we can discern a different ideal of individuality that emphasizes interindividual communicative processes over the stress on nonconformity as found for instance in Mill’s defence of eccentricity or the ideal of ‘democratic individuality’ in the American tradition.
{"title":"Humboldt’s Individualism: Theorizing Social Individuality","authors":"Luise Papcke","doi":"10.53765/20512988.45.1.157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.45.1.157","url":null,"abstract":"This article retraces in the thought of Wilhelm von Humboldt an account of the ideal of individuality which I propose to call ‘social individuality’. Against readings of Humboldt’s individualism as atomist, asocial and apolitical, I show how his conceptualization attends\u0000 expressly to the social origins and the inherent interindividual and even collective dimension of individuality, while nevertheless insisting on the irreducible uniqueness of each human being. I show how this inherent sociability is anchored in his ideal of self-cultivation and, importantly,\u0000 in his linguistic thought, which is often neglected in interpretations of Humboldt’s political theory. In concentrating on the social dimension of individual self-formation, I argue, we can discern a different ideal of individuality that emphasizes interindividual communicative processes\u0000 over the stress on nonconformity as found for instance in Mill’s defence of eccentricity or the ideal of ‘democratic individuality’ in the American tradition.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"33 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140411575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-30DOI: 10.53765/20512988.44.4.611
John R. Wallach
Thucydides and Plato are often read in opposed or equivalent intellectual registers (cf. Strauss, Guthrie, Ober, Mara). If the former, they speak past one another. If the latter, their different purposes have no interpretive effect. This article notes how each seeks to ameliorate stasis by means of different accounts of the logos–ergon relationship; in so doing, it points out political and theoretical differences and similarities. It yields insights into what Thucydides and Plato were doing and saying, and it illustrates how reading each about stasis can bridge undue gaps between the critical discourses of history and political theory and their relationships to democratic thought.
{"title":"Thucydides, Plato and Stasis","authors":"John R. Wallach","doi":"10.53765/20512988.44.4.611","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.44.4.611","url":null,"abstract":"Thucydides and Plato are often read in opposed or equivalent intellectual registers (cf. Strauss, Guthrie, Ober, Mara). If the former, they speak past one another. If the latter, their different purposes have no interpretive effect. This article notes how each seeks to ameliorate stasis by means of different accounts of the logos–ergon relationship; in so doing, it points out political and theoretical differences and similarities. It yields insights into what Thucydides and Plato were doing and saying, and it illustrates how reading each about stasis can bridge undue gaps between the critical discourses of history and political theory and their relationships to democratic thought.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139198319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-30DOI: 10.53765/20512988.44.4.739
Andrew Buchwalter
This article questions the critique of Hegel advanced by Habermas in his 2019 Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie, which defends a vision of postmetaphysical thought from the perspective of the relationship of faith and reason as it evolved throughout the history of Western thought. Issues addressed include the conjunction of faith and reason as a modern phenomenon, the practical dimension of (individual and cultic) faith, the responsibility of believers for worldly engagement, and the notion that religious-theological considerations empower rather than undermine a modern secular polity. Hegel is shown to provide a nuanced account of the relationship of religious and secular considerations that compares favourably to Habermas' own.
本文对哈贝马斯在其 2019 年出版的《哲学史》(Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie)中对黑格尔提出的批判提出质疑,哈贝马斯从信仰与理性在整个西方思想史中演变的关系的角度,捍卫了后形而上学思想的愿景。该书探讨的问题包括:作为一种现代现象的信仰与理性的结合、(个人和邪教)信仰的实践层面、信徒参与世俗生活的责任,以及宗教神学因素增强而非削弱现代世俗政体的观念。黑格尔对宗教与世俗因素的关系进行了细致入微的阐述,与哈贝马斯的观点不相上下。
{"title":"The Assimilation of Faith to Knowledge? On Habermas' Assessment of Hegel's Account of the Relationship of Reason, Religion and Secularity","authors":"Andrew Buchwalter","doi":"10.53765/20512988.44.4.739","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.44.4.739","url":null,"abstract":"This article questions the critique of Hegel advanced by Habermas in his 2019 Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie, which defends a vision of postmetaphysical thought from the perspective of the relationship of faith and reason as it evolved throughout the history of Western thought. Issues addressed include the conjunction of faith and reason as a modern phenomenon, the practical dimension of (individual and cultic) faith, the responsibility of believers for worldly engagement, and the notion that religious-theological considerations empower rather than undermine a modern secular polity. Hegel is shown to provide a nuanced account of the relationship of religious and secular considerations that compares favourably to Habermas' own.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"38 17","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139196890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-30DOI: 10.53765/20512988.44.4.781
Jacob Scott Hoerger
I view Don Quixote as a representative of Eric Nelson's 'Greek' view of freedom and Sancho Panza as an embodiment of Quentin Skinner's 'neo-Roman' view. Each has their worldview challenged by their adventures such that their view- points become reversed by the climax of the novel. I point to the Greek tradition's entanglement in the Spanish conquest of the Americas as a reason Cervantes would wish to divest his main character of the Greek view. Accordingly, I suggest that the concept of penance plays a crucial role in how the author positions the rival traditions in relation to Spanish history.
{"title":"The Rival Freedoms of Don Quixote","authors":"Jacob Scott Hoerger","doi":"10.53765/20512988.44.4.781","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53765/20512988.44.4.781","url":null,"abstract":"I view Don Quixote as a representative of Eric Nelson's 'Greek' view of freedom and Sancho Panza as an embodiment of Quentin Skinner's 'neo-Roman' view. Each has their worldview challenged by their adventures such that their view- points become reversed by the climax of the novel. I point to the Greek tradition's entanglement in the Spanish conquest of the Americas as a reason Cervantes would wish to divest his main character of the Greek view. Accordingly, I suggest that the concept of penance plays a crucial role in how the author positions the rival traditions in relation to Spanish history.","PeriodicalId":51773,"journal":{"name":"HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139199154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}