A History of Political Thought

This volume continues the story of European political theorising by focusing on medieval and Renaissance thinkers. It includes extensive discussion of the practices that underpinned medieval political theories and which continued to play crucial roles in the eventual development of early-modern political institutions and debates. The author strikes a balance between trying to understand the philosophical cogency of medieval and Renaissance arguments on the one hand, elucidating why historically-suited medieval and Renaissance thinkers thought the ways they did about politics; and why we often think otherwise.

Preface viii

Introduction 1

1 Medieval Political Ideas and Medieval Society 5

Medieval Sources 9

The Historical Context of Early Medieval Political Thought 11

Carolingian Christian Kingship and Feudal Society 13

Translatio Imperii 18

Theocratic Kingship 19

The Origins of Papal Authority and the Gelasian Doctrine 22

Two Swords Theory 28

The Twelfth-century ‘Renaissance’: Canon Lawyers and their Heirs 29

The Twelfth-century ‘Renaissance’ and the Civil Lawyers 33

Civilians and Canonists 37

Individual and Collective Liberties 38

Sovereignty and Corporations 42

Natural Law, Rights and the Lawyers’ Concern for Individual Autonomy 46

Origins of Property Rights 49

Medieval Education: Practical Moral Philosophy of Ethics, Economics and Politics 50

The Contribution of Arabic and Jewish Thinking to the Twelfth-century ‘Renaissance’ 54

Aristotle in the Universities 56

Ethics and Politics in the Liberal Arts Course 57

The Purpose of Aristotelian Rhetorical Persuasion 59

The Thirteenth ‘Aristotelian’ Century 61

The Later Thirteenth-century Understanding of Rhetoric’s Service to a Prince: Giles of Rome 64

Aristotelian Rhetoric 65

Returning to Giles of Rome’s Rhetorical De regimine principum 69

Rhetoric outside the University and Aristotle within the University 71

Aristotle’s Ethics for Medieval University Students 73

Lawyers versus the Arts Faculty Philosophers 76

The New Mendicant Orders: Franciscans and Dominicans and Political Theory 77

2 St Thomas Aquinas 81

Philosophy of Man 84

Reality and Metaphysics 84

Naming, Natures and Actual Existents 86

Natures and Definitions 87

Substantial Form and Corporeal Individuation 88

Being and Essence 90

Cause and Effect 91

Grace Added to and Perfecting, Not Destroying, Nature 92

Sense Origin of Knowing 92

Reason and Will 95

The Will’s Relation to Justice as Universal Principle and as Historically Contingent Conclusion 97

Eudaimonia/beatitudo: Immortality and the Completion of Desire 98

Rationality and the Freedom of the Will 99

The Will and the Doctrine of Original Sin 100

Natural Theology 101

State and Church: The Consequences of Natural Theology 102

Free Will and Responsibility 104

Aquinas on Law and Politics 104

Natural Law beyond Cicero 105

Natural Human Community 106

The Consequences of the Fall 109

Individual Rights and the State’s Law 110

The Contrast with Augustine 112

The Mixed Constitution 113

Private Property Rights 115

3 John of Paris 118

Biographical Details 120

The Franciscan Position 122

The Dominican Position 123

The Origin of Government 124

The Thomistic Underpinning of dominium in rebus, Lordship and Ownership of Things 126

The Justification of Private Ownership 127

Limitations on Government 130

The Origin of the Priesthood 130

The Relation of the Church to its Property 132

Deposition Theory 133

4 Marsilius of Padua 134

Biographical Details 138

A Reading of Discourse 1 139

Some Observations from Discourse 2 158

Conclusion 166

5 William of Ockham 169

Biographical Details 170

Ockham’s Positions on Church and State 171

Ockham’s Epistemology 172

Ockham’s Dualism Concerning Secular and Spiritual Government: Continuing the Narrative 175

Comparisons with Marsilius 177

The Exceptional Exercise of Coercive Authority 178

Natural Rights 179

Corporation Theory 179

Ockham’s ‘Absolutism’ 181

How did Ockham Come to Hold These Views? 181

Right Reason 185

Scriptural Hermeneutics 188

Ockham’s Ethics 189

Conclusion 191

The Late Medieval Fortunes of Corporation Theories in the Church’s ‘Conciliar Theory’ 193

6 The Italian Renaissance and Machiavelli’s Political Theory 199

The Italian City-states Compared with Other European Cities 199

The Unconventional Aims of this Chapter 203

Communal Discourses and Citizenship 207

Urban Commerce 212

The Venetian Way 213

Perceived Benefits of Citizen Status 215

Community, Civitas, Ranked Citizenship and Local Patriotisms 216

The Involvement of Citizens in Late Thirteenth-century Communal Government 219

The Communal Ideal and the Menace of Factions 220

The Evolution of the Florentine Governing Class 222

Who Wanted to Play an Active Role in Fifteenth-century Florentine Government? 228

Humanism and Humanist Conceptions of Florentine Republicanism 230

Fifteenth-century Florentine Ideology 238

Niccolò Machiavelli 241

Machiavelli’s Political Morality 247

Founding and Maintaining the ‘Stato’ 251

The Fixity of Man’s Nature 252

Character Formation 254

The ‘Fit’ Between Character and the Times 256

Fortune 257

The Impetuous Prince Who Must Learn How Not to Have Fixed Dispositions 260

Learn to Imitate Foxes and Lions 262

Machiavelli’s ‘Popular’ Government: His Views of the Popolo 266

Conclusion 272

Bibliography 277

Index 291

"This is a very well-informed, thoughtful and scholarly account that is destined to be read closely (and with great profit) by specialists in the field as well as by the students for whom it is primarily intended." Francis Oakley, Edward Dorr Professor of the History of Ideas and President Emeritus of Williams College

"Professor Coleman demonstrates an admirable grasp of the detail and subtlety of the philosophical arguments, and their relation to social and historial circumstances, including trends in wider spheres of thought [...] I found the chapter on Plato particularly illuminating and students will find much of ambiguity in The Republic clarified by Coleman's discussion.[...] Students of specialist courses in Greek, Stoic and early Christian political thought will gain much from this scholarly and erudite book by an acknowledged expert in the field"
David Boucher, Cardiff University English Historical Review Vol 117, June 2002

Janet Coleman is the Professor of Ancient and Medieval Political Thought in the Government Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Previously she taught in the Politics Department at Exeter University and for the History Faculty of Cambridge University. She Studied at Yale University and at L'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris. Her numerous publications include The Individual in Political Theory and Practice (ed. 1996), Ancient and Medieval Memories: Studies in the Reconstruction of the Past (1992), Against the State: Studies in Sedition and Rebellion (1990) and English Literature in History 1350-1400: Medieval Readers and Writers (1981). She is co-founder and co-editor of the international journal History of Political Thought. Janet Coleman's two volume history of European political theorizing, from the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance is the introduction which many have been waiting for. It treats some of the most influential writers who have been considered by educated Europeans down the centuries to have helped to construct their identity, their shared "languages of politics" about the principles and practices of good government, and the history of European philosophy. It seeks to uncover and reconstruct the emergence of the "state" and the various European political theories which justified it.

This volume continues the story by focusing on medieval and Renaissance thinkers and includes extensive discussion of the practices that underpinned medieval political theories and which continued to play crucial roles in the eventual development of early-modern political institutions and debates. Throughout the author draws on recent scholarly commentaries written by specialists in philosophy, contemporary political theory, and on medieval and Renaissance history and theology. She shows that the medieval and Renaissance theorists' arguments can be seen as logical and coherent if we can grasp the questions they thought it important to answer. Janet Coleman strikes a balance between trying to understand the philosophical cogency of medieval and Renaissance arguments on the one hand, and on the other, elucidating why historically-situated medieval and Renaissance thinkers, respectively, thought the ways they did about politics; and why we often think otherwise.

The volume will meet the needs of students of philosophy, history and politics, proving to be an indispensable secondary source which aims to situate, explain, and provoke thought about the major works of political theory likely to be encountered by students of this period and beyond.