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John of Salisbury (c.1115–1180) was the foremost political theorist of his age. He was trained in scholastic theology and philosophy at Paris, and his writings are invaluable for summarising many of the metaphysical speculations of his time. The Policraticus is his main work, and is regarded as the first complete work of political theory to be written in the Latin Middle Ages. Cary Nederman's 1991 edition and translation is primarily aimed at undergraduate students of the history of political thought and medieval history. His translation shows how important this text is in understanding the mores, forms of conduct and beliefs of the most powerful and learned segments of twelfth-century Western Europe.
Liberal thinker or immoral pragmatist? You decide… Machiavelli has been among the most commented upon, criticized and feared thinkers of the modern world. Infamous for his support of brutality and repression as valid political instruments, he is often portrayed as the pantomime villain of political theorists. In this whirlwind tour of Machiavelli’s writings and eventful life, Nederman highlights the complexities in his thought, showing that he actually advocated democracy as much as dictatorship, debate as much as violence, depending upon prevailing political conditions.
This book examines some of the salient historiographical and conceptual issues that animate current scholarly debates about the nature of the medieval contribution to modern Western political ideas
This innovative collection points to the need for a reevaluation of the origins of toleration theory. Philosophers, intellectual historians, and political theorists have assumed that the development of the theory of toleration has been a product of the modern world, and John Locke is usually regarded as the first theorist of toleration. The contributors to Difference and Dissent, however, discuss a range of conceptual positions that were employed by medieval and early modern thinkers to support a theory of toleration, and question the claim that Locke's theory of toleration was as original or philosophically adequate as his adherents have asserted.
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A textbook anthology of important works of political thought revealing the development of ideas from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Includes new translations of both well-known and ignored writers, and an introductory overview.
In the first examination of the Defensor Pacis in almost fifty years, Cary J. Nederman demonstrates Marsiglio of Padua's continuing relevance, connecting his philosophy to contemporary debates about community, identity, difference, and political participation. Community and Consent describes Marsiglio's attempt to resolve the tension in medieval Christian political thought created by the apparently competing standards of reason (thought to be the province of a few) and volition (the realm of every individual). Marsiglio argued for a harmonization of reason and will, regarding neither as sufficient to authorize political conduct. The book includes historical and biographical information not previously available in English, as well as a survey and critique of the current state of Marsiglio scholarship in all languages.
Containing the latest scholarship by an international group of scholars, this book provides an essential guide both to the life and works of Marsilius of Padua as well as to the leading interpretive debates surrounding one of the greatest thinkers of the Latin Middle Ages.
A useful collection of sources, now reprinted, which document and commentate on the formation of medieval political culture between the 12th and 14th centuries. Aimed at a non-specialist readership fifteen texts are presented in English translation and in chronological order supported by suggestions for further reading. These include letters and treatises by Bernard of Clairvaux, Marie de France, John of Salisbury, Thomas Aquinas, John of Paris, Dante Alighieri, William of Ockham, John Wyclif and Christine de Pizan.
Addressing the myriad ways in which heresy accusations could fulfill political aims during the Middle Ages, this collection shows acts of heresy were not just influenced by religion. Essays examine individual cases, in addition to the close relationship of orthodoxy and political dominance in medieval games of power.