The foundations of modern political thought. Volume 1, The Renaissance / Quentin Skinner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Skinner, Quentin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--History.

Political science.

Political science--Philosophy--History.

Political science--Theories.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxiv, 305 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1978.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

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

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

Bibliography of primary sources

Bibliography of secondary sources

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-139-08512-3

1-107-38455-9

0-511-81787-8

OCLC:

927198853