UID:
almafu_9960117218502883
Format:
1 online resource (xxiv, 305 pages) :
,
digital, PDF file(s).
ISBN:
1-139-08512-3
,
1-107-38455-9
,
0-511-81787-8
Content:
A two-volume study of political thought from the late thirteenth to the end of the sixteenth century, the decisive period of transition from medieval to modern political theory. The work is intended to be both an introduction to the period for students, and a presentation and justification of a particular approach to the interpretation of historical texts. Quentin Skinner gives an outline account of all the principal texts of the period, discussing in turn the chief political writings of Dante, Marsiglio, Bartolus, Machiavelli, Erasmus and more, Luther and Calvin, Bodin and the Calvinist revolutionaries. But he also examines a very large number of lesser writers in order to explain the general social and intellectual context in which these leading theorists worked. He thus presents the history not as a procession of 'classic texts' but are more readily intelligible. He traces by this means the gradual emergence of the vocabulary of modern political thought, and in particular the crucial concept of the State.
Note:
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
,
Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Notes on the text -- PART ONE: THE ORIGINS OF THE RENAISSANCE -- 1 The ideal of liberty -- The city republics and the Empire -- The city republics and the Papacy -- 2 Rhetoric and liberty -- The rise of the despots -- The development of the 'Ars Dictaminis' -- The emergence of humanism -- The rhetorical defence of liberty -- 3 Scholasticism and liberty -- The reception of scholasticism -- The scholastic defence of liberty -- Further Reading -- PART TWO: THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE -- 4 The Florentine Renaissance -- The analysis of liberty -- The recovery of classical values -- The concept of 'virtus' -- The powers of the 'vir virtutis' -- The humanists and the Renaissance -- 5 The age of princes -- The triumph of princely government -- The humanist ideal of princely government -- Machiavelli's critique of humanism -- 6 The survival of Republican values -- The centres of Republicanism -- The contribution of scholasticism -- The contribution of humanism -- The contribution of Machiavelli -- The end of Republican liberty -- Further Reading -- PART THREE: THE NORTHERN RENAISSANCE -- 7 The diffusion of humanist scholarship -- The migration of humanists -- Humanism and legal scholarship -- Humanism and biblical scholarship -- 8 The reception of humanist political thought -- The humanists as advisers -- The injustices of the age -- The centrality of the virtues -- The qualities of leadership -- The role of education -- 9 The humanist critique of humanism -- Humanism and the justification of war -- Humanism and 'reason of state' -- 'Utopia' and the critique of humanism -- Further Reading -- Bibliography of primary sources -- Bibliography of secondary sources -- Index.
Additional Edition:
ISBN 0-521-29337-5
Additional Edition:
ISBN 0-521-22023-8
Language:
English
URL:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511817878
