Suchergebnisse

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. We are given an insight into the actual processes of the formation of ideologies and into some of the linkages between political theory and practice. Professor Skinner has been awarded the Balzan Prize Life Time Achievement Award for Political Thought, History and Theory. Full details of this award can be found at http://www.balzan.it/News_eng.aspx?ID=2474

Since Plato, death has been a recurring theme in the history of philosophy and the Hellenistic schools of thought. The "death" subject became a daily reflection particularly in Epicureanism and in Stoicism, from which not only the term meditatio mortis comes from, but an entire literature, including the writings made in the medieval times that had the final moment of life as their central point. Thus, in the 16th century, the period when Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) lived his life, meditation on death was a rhetorical topos. Nevertheless, his Essays approach the theme of death not only from a literary standpoint, but as a daily meditation, as a spiritual exercise. In this perspective, this article suggests that Montaigne, far beyond a rhetorical approach, attempts to recover the most original meaning that the Hellenistic schools of thought gave to meditatio mortis, taking this concept as a preparation for life itself, as a constant way of observing the present, faced with an imminent scenario of various deaths, such as the Black Death epidemic and the civil war in Montaigne troubled times.

National states were born out of the gradual dissolution of the medieval societyand ended up as a paradigm of the modern system of thought. Nonetheless in theXXI Century there are crises factors present. The new "local" reality discoversmany factions assumed as truths not subject to discussion during the last 500years. ; Los estados nacionales nacieron de la paulatina disolución de la sociedad medievaly terminaron convertidos en un paradigma del pensamiento moderno.Sin embargo en el siglo xxi acusan factores de crisis. La nueva realidad "glocal"pone al descubierto muchas ficciones asumidas como verdades incontrovertiblesdurante los últimos quinientos años.

"We don't understand the reactionary mind. As a result, argues Mark Lilla in this timely book, the ideas and passions that shape today's political dramas are unintelligible to us. The reactionary is anything but a conservative. He is as radical and modern a figure as the revolutionary, someone shipwrecked inthe rapidly changing present, and suffering from nostalgia for an idealized past and an apocalyptic fear that history is rushing toward catastrophe. And like the revolutionary his political engagements are motived by highly developed ideas. Lilla unveils the structure of reactionary thinking, beginning with three twentieth-century philosophers--Franz Rosenzweig, Eric Voegelin, and Leo Strauss --who attributed the problems of modern society to a break in the history of ideas and promoted a return to earlier modes of thought. He then examines the enduring power of grand historical narratives of betrayal to shape political outlooks ever since the French Revolution. These narratives are employed to serve different, and sometimes expressly opposed, ends. They appear in the writings of Europe's right-wing cultural pessimists and Maoist neocommunists, American theoconservatives fantasizing about the harmony of medieval Catholic society and radical Islamists seeking to restore a vanished Muslim caliphate. The revolutionary spirit that inspired political movements across the world for two centuries may have died out. But the spirit of reaction that rose to meet it has survived and is proving just as formidable a historical force. We live in an age when thetragicomic nostalgia of Don Quixote for a lost golden age has been transformed into a potent and sometimes deadly weapon. Mark Lilla helps us to understand why"--

Questions of authority are perennial. Authority has been and still is a key topic in many studies of history, society, literature, and religion, just as it is a key issue in contemporary societies. In spite of the scholarly attention, authority continues to have an elusive quality. Reframing Authority provides new perspectives by focusing on the role of materiality and media for questions of authority, as well as on the changing roles of authority historically and cross-culturally. The volume argues that forms of mediation and materiality are crucial in any constitution, contestation, or transformation of authority. New understanding of authority can be gained by focusing on materiality and media in situations where authority is created, contested, or transformed in different historical eras and cultures. As the in-depth historical case studies show, authority is dependent upon a range of media and materiality forms - objects, paraphernalia, spaces and spatial practices, visual culture, literary forms, technologies, and bodies. Thus, authority is vulnerable and in need of continual maintenance, as struggles against, negotiations of, and transformations within authority constellations demonstrate. Reframing Authority demonstrates the fundamental relational nature of authority, makes a contribution to broader debates in the human sciences and offers a long historical perspective, ranging from ancient Rome and Christianity, to medieval literature, the early modern, modern, and contemporary eras in Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe, Mexico and the US.

"In this volume leading historians and anthropologists with an interest in law gather to analyse the nature and meaning of law in diverse societies. They start from the concept of legalism, taken from the anthropologist Lloyd Fallers, whose 1960s work on Africa engaged, unusually, with jurisprudence. The concept highlights appeal to categories and rules. The degree to which legalism in this sense informs people's lives varies within and between societies, and over time, but it can colour equally both 'simple' and 'complex' law. Breaking with recent emphases on 'practice', nine specialist contributors explore, in a wide-ranging set of cases, the place of legalism in the workings of social life. The essays make obvious the need to question our parochial common sense where ideals of moral order at other times and places differ from those of modern North Atlantic governance. State-centred law, for instance, is far from a 'central case'. Legalism may be 'aspirational', connecting people to wider visions of morality; duty may be as prominent a theme as rights; and rulers from thirteenth-century England to sixteenth-century Burma appropriate, as much they impose, a vision of justice as consistency. The use of explicit categories and rules does not reduce to simple questions of power. The cases explored range from ancient Asia Minor to classical India, and from medieval England and France to Saharan oases and southern Arabia. In each case they assume no knowledge of the society or legal system discussed. The volume will appeal not only to historians and anthropologists with an interest in law, but to students of law engaged in legal theory, for the light it sheds on the strengths and limitations of abstract legal philosophy."--Publisher's description

AbstractThis essay proposes to rethink the conceptual associations that bind immanence to the secular and oppose it to (divine) transcendence. It asks: What if immanence is divorced from the conceptual opposition between the world and its openings to (divine) other(s), between enclosure and the trace of a transcendent outside? What might arise if immanence is severed from its link with secularity, if it ceases to be merely another conceptual support in secularism's metaphysical armature? To pursue these questions, the essay engages a variety of materials, including medieval mysticism, anthropological critiques of the secular, work in Black studies, critiques of the subject, and François Laruelle's non-philosophical thought. The result links immanence more intimately with dispossession than with the subject's self-possession—and entwines it with the undercommons, as the atopic lowest place, rather than with the nomos and topos imposed by the (modern) world and its regime of the proper. Immanence is thought of as anti- and antenomian force, a groundless ground coming underneath the conceptual logics of the world, its normative order of things, and life lived according to its distributions. As a result, rather than a weapon in modernity's endless self-justifying polemics with religion, immanence opens forth trajectories for its destitution and delegitimation.

The tendency to historicity is an important tendency in the modern history of philosophy. Hence a question: to which extend the treatises of Hermetic corpus seem to us historical, and properly connected with Egypt? Is it possible, taking into account the universal and mystical character of these texts, nevertheless to identify in them some elements, which would allow us to understand Hermeticism in the context of Hellenistic Egypt proper, and not broadly defined Hellenism? Does the traditional division of Hermeticism into "high" philosophical and "low" practical make sense in this context, or does this division represent another prejudice, which is better abandoned for a better understanding of the phenomenon under study? This article presents several positions on this subject matter developed over the past century, and offers certain observations that we believe allow us to better understand Hermeticism in the context of Alexandrian religious philosophy. For this purpose we examine in detail the origins of the legend of Thoth, which in the Greek context goes back to Plato, and then turn to an important hermetic text, the Definitions, which has survived only in its medieval translation into Armenian, and only partially preserved in the Greek. Indeed, only the aphoristic form of precepts allows the student to stop being distracted by the lectures of his celestial preceptor and begin to reflect independently on the universal truths expressed in the brief maxims. If this hypothesis is true, then the various Gnostic elements in hermetic treatises, often inappropriate, will appear as later additions by commentators to texts already in circulation in Hellenistic Egypt even before Gnosticism arose.

This article analyzes the evolution of the concept of "just war" throughout the ages. It starts with the study of the notion of just war in Rome, specifically in the work of Cicero. It subsequently delves into the evolution of the concept in the Roman and Medieval Christianism and in the Islamic religion. The article then examines the development of the concept in the Modern Age, carried out by the neo-scholasticists of the School of Salamanca and Hugo Grotius, regarded by many as the first theoretician of the International Law. After that, the article delves into the ideas of the legitimacy of war found in the work of Hegel, and then studies the concept of just war in the light of marxism-leninism, through the works of Marx, Lenin and Mao-Tse-Tung. Regarding the twentieth century, the article sets out the different visions about the war of the great Public Law jurists Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt: the former supported the need to avoid war through Law, while the latter defended its inevitability. Finally, the article analyzes the current regulation of the use of armed force within the framework of the United Nations, and it concludes with a critical appraisal of the issue. ; En este artículo se pretende analizar cómo ha evolucionado el concepto de "guerra justa" a través de los tiempos. Así, comienza con el estudio de la noción de guerra justa en Roma, particularmente en la obra de Cicerón, para posteriormente adentrarse en el desarrollo del concepto en el cristianismo romano y medieval y en la religión islámica. A continuación, se examina la evolución del concepto en la Edad Moderna, de la mano de los juristas neoescolásticos de la Escuela de Salamanca y de Hugo Grocio, considerado por muchos el primer teórico del Derecho Internacional. Después el artículo ahonda en las concepciones de la legitimidad de la guerra que se encuentran en la obra iusfilosófica de Hegel, para centrarse a continuación en el estudio de la guerra justa a la luz del marxismo-leninismo, a través de las obras de Marx, Lenin y Mao-Tse-Tung. Respecto del siglo XX, se exponen las concepciones dispares acerca del fenómeno bélico de los grandes iuspublicistas Hans Kelsen y Carl Schmitt, partidarios, respectivamente, de la necesidad de evitar la guerra a través del Derecho y de la inevitabilidad de la misma. Por último, el artículo analiza la regulación actual del uso de la fuerza armada en el marco de las Naciones Unidas, concluyendo con una valoración crítica de la cuestión. ; Neste artigo, pretende-se analisar a evolução do conceito de "guerra justa" através dos tempos apartir de uma abordagem qualitativa baseada em um processo de revisão documental. Inicia-se como estudo da noção de guerra justa em Roma, particularmente na obra de Cícero, para posteriormenteentrar no desenvolvimento do conceito no cristianismo romano e medieval e na religião islâmica.Em seguida, examina-se a evolução do conceito na Idade Moderna, juntamente com os juristasneoescolásticos da escola de Salamanca e de Hugo Grocio, considerado por muitos o primeiro teórico do direito internacional. Depois, o artigo se aprofunda nas concepções da legitimidade da guerra que se encontram na obra jusfilosófica de Hegel, para se concentrar, em seguida, no estudo da guerra justa à luz do marxismo-leninismo, por meio das obras de Marx, Lenin e Mao Tsé-tung. Com respeito ao século XX, são expostas as concepções díspares acerca do fenômeno bélico dos grandes juristas Hans Kelsen e Carl Schmitt, partidários, respectivamente, da necessidade de evitar a guerra por meio do direito e da inevitabilidade dela. Por último, analisa-se a regulação atual do uso da força armada no âmbito das Nações Unidas e conclui-se com uma valorização crítica da questão.

In addition to murder and a range of intimidation, the kidnapping is part of the array of force attacks with medieval and modern political life punctuated. The abduction of women, with or without consent, is a widely documented phenomenon in these societies. But its political branch also includes fragile princes, young people or deeds, and the adversaries of the sovereign. Often improvised by actors in the face of the circumstances, the kidney is rarely qualified for what it is, but is a growing concern of curial circles, confirming the crucial importance of the embodiment of power. ; Along with murder and a whole range of intimidating acts, abduction used to belong to the arsenal of violence which punctuated medieval and early modern political life. The abduction of women, with or without their consent, was a widespread phenomenon in those societies. But its political adaptation also targeted frail, young or mad princes, as well as the monarch's ennemies. Very often, kidnappings were improvised and performed by actors in a rush. Although rarely named with proper words, those abductions became an increasingly absorbing concern among courtly environments, thus confirming the decisive importance of the embodiment of power. ; In addition to murder and a range of intimidation, the kidnapping is part of the array of force attacks with medieval and modern political life punctuated. The abduction of women, with or without consent, is a widely documented phenomenon in these societies. But its political branch also includes fragile princes, young people or deeds, and the adversaries of the sovereign. Often improvised by actors in the face of the circumstances, the kidney is rarely qualified for what it is, but is a growing concern of curial circles, confirming the crucial importance of the embodiment of power. ; Aux côtés du meurtre et de toute une gamme d'intimidations, le rapt fait partie de l'arsenal des coups de force dont la vie politique médiévale et moderne est ponctuée. L'enlèvement des femmes, consenti ou non, ...

Johan Huizinga had a special sympathy for the complex, withdrawn personality of Erasmus and for his advocacy of intellectual and spiritual balance in a quarrelsome age. This biography is a classic work on the sixteenth-century scholar/humanist. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905

This volume examines nationhood as a concept and how it became the basis of political discourse in South Asia. It studies the emergence of nationalism in modern states as a powerful, omnipotent, and omnipresent form of political identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.This book examines the idea of a nation, as it originated in medieval Europe, as an unending process of 'othering' individuals, groups, and communities to establish its hegemony, exclusivity, and absolute power within a political discourse. It sheds light on how these new political frameworks in the name of nationalism resulted in conflicts and bloodshed. It unleashed politics of retribution and facilitated majoritarianism, minority persecution, and collective authoritarianism which devastated individuals and collectivities. Further, the author also discusses various prominent ideas and contemporary theories on nationalism alongside pivotal socio-cultural factors which have significantly shaped the formation of modern nation states and their politics.Topical and nuanced, this book will be indispensable to researchers, scholars, and readers interested in nationalism, political science, modern history, political theory, political philosophy, political sociology, political history, post-colonial studies, and South Asia studies

Reflections on a Life in Middle Eastern History -- Map -- Understanding Islam -- 1 An Introduction to Islam -- 2 The Foundations of State and Society -- 3 Does Pre-Modern Islamic Thought Allow for a Secular Realm? -- Islamic law and ethics -- 4 An Introduction to Islamic Law and Islamic Jurisprudence -- 5 Consultation and the Political Process in the Middle East of the 9th, 10th, and 11th Centuries -- 6 The Idea of the Jihād in Islam before the Crusades (with Ridwan al-Sayyid) -- 7 Friendship in Islamic Ethical Philosophy -- 8 Brother and Brotherhood in the Qur'ān -- Islamic societies -- 9 The Shu'ūbīya Controversy and the Social History of Early Islamic Iran -- 10 Bureaucracy and the Patrimonial State in Early Islamic Iran and Iraq -- 11 Some Attitudes towards Monarchy and Absolutism in the Eastern Islamic World of the 11th and 12th Centuries -- 12 Oaths and Public Vows in the Middle East of the 10th and 11th Centuries -- 13 Qur'ānic Commentary on the Verse of Khums (al-Anfāl VIII:41) -- Islamic education -- 14 The Transmission of Learning: The Role of the Islamic Northeast -- 15 Traditional Shi'ite Education in Qom -- 16 The Najaf Ḥawza Curriculum -- Islamic economics -- 17 A Note on the Tasbīb -- 18 The Economic Thought of al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī -- Islamic cities -- 19 Administration in Buyid Qazvin -- 20 Medieval Kashan: Crossroads of Commerce and Culture (with Mehrdad Amanat) -- 21 Faith and Practice: Muslims in Historic Cairo -- 22 Medieval Lexicography on Arabic and Persian Terms for City and Countryside -- Shi'ism -- 23 Keeping the Shi'ites Straight -- 24 Shi'ite Political Thought and the Destiny of the Iranian Revolution -- 25 The Quandaries of Emulation: The Theory and Politics of Shiʻite Manuals of Practice -- Recent history in the middle east.

This article is the preface to the Russian translation of my Kuhn vs Popper. I use it as an opportunity to re-examine the difference between Kuhn and Popper on the nature of 'revolutions' in science. Kuhn is rightly seen as a 'reluctant revolutionary' and Popper a 'permanent revolutionary'. In this respect, Kuhn sticks to the original medieval meaning of 'revolution' as restoration of a natural order, whereas Popper adopts the more modern meaning of 'revolution' that comes into fashion after the French Revolution, which suggests a radical renewal. A key to understanding this difference in revolutionary mentalities lies in Kuhn's and Popper's respective treatment of the 'Gestalt switch' phenomenon. Kuhn sees the ambiguous Gestalt figure from the standpoint of the subject, and Popper from that of the experimenter. Behind this difference lies alternative interpretations of the significance of quantum mechanics for scientific epistemology, a preoccupation that Kuhn and Popper shared with the original Gestalt psychologists and is beginning engage the interest of social scientists.