9. Marsiglio of Padua

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cary J. Nederman
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Holy Roman Empire ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Vital Functions ◽  
Short Biography

This chapter examines Marsiglio of Padua's political theory, tracing it to his opposition to the pope's interference in secular political affairs, especially Italy and the Holy Roman Empire. Marsiglio formulates theoretical principles to explain the origins and nature of the political community that depend upon a strict distinction between the temporal and spiritual realms. For Marsiglio, government and law exist in order to support the civil peace. After providing a short biography of Marsiglio, the chapter analyses his views on peace, conciliarism, consent, and ecclesiology. It also considers Marsiglio's claim that all secular governments should oppose the ecclesiastical hierarchy, that political society arises from infirmities of human nature, and that citizenship derives from all vital functions in society.

The Puzzle of the Political Animal: Nature and Artifice in Aristotle's Political Theory

1994 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cary J. Nederman
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Locomotion ◽  
Political Education ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Choice ◽  
Systematic Education

Several recent scholars have raised afresh the question of what Aristotle meant in Politics 1 by the statement that men are “by nature” political, that is, are political animals. This article addresses this quandary by reference to Aristotle's psychology and his notion of political education. It is argued that by concentrating on Aristotle's theory of human locomotion and its implications for moral choice, we may identify the relation he conceived between the polis and human nature. Specifically, the ability of humans to live according to their natures requires the systematic education afforded by the laws and institutions of the polis.

The Reformation and the Establishment of Lutheranism in the Holy Roman Empire

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Whaley
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
General Population ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Holy Roman Empire ◽  
The Political ◽  
Charles V ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Political Structures ◽  
The Church

Martin Luther was a subject of the Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire. His emergence as a reformer was made possible by the sponsorship he received in Wittenberg. He owed his survival to the protection afforded him by the Elector when Emperor Charles V outlawed him and ordered that the papal ban of excommunication be enforced in the empire. The audience to which Luther appealed was the general population of German Christians, both lay and ecclesiastical, who wanted a reform of the church and the reduction of the pope’s influence over it. That his appeal resonated so widely and so profoundly had much to do with a combination of crises that had developed in the empire from the 15th century. That his reform proposals resulted in the formation of a new church owed everything to the political structures of the empire. These facilitated the suppression of radical challenges to Luther’s position. They also thwarted every effort Charles V made over several decades to ensure that the empire remained Catholic. Lutheranism became entwined with the idea of German liberty; as a result, its survival was secured in the constitution of the empire, first in 1555 and then in 1648.

Theories of Federalism under the Holy Roman Empire

1941 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz H. F. Eulau
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Holy Roman Empire ◽  
Fertile Soil ◽  
Early Emergence ◽  
Territorial Organization ◽  
Constitutional Evolution ◽  
Different Content ◽  
Gradual Transformation

A fact little appreciated by American political scientists is the relatively early emergence of federalism as a working concept of political theory in the Holy Roman Empire of the seventeenth century. But although these federal theories run ahead of corresponding theories elsewhere, it must be pointed out that political and legal conditions peculiar to the medieval Empire retarded an even earlier appearance. For centuries, the constitution of the Empire had retained its feudalistic structure. Many conspicuous changes, however, had taken place in the course of its development and had filled that structure with an entirely different content. The main result of the Empire's constitutional evolution had been its gradual transformation from an originally fairly unitary state into a federalistic organization of de facto sovereign states. It might be supposed, therefore, that the highly articulated territorial organization of the Empire would have easily served as fertile soil on which contemporary political theorists and jurists might have founded an elaborate theory of federalism.

On the Verge of Citizenship

2020 ◽  
pp. 1034-1061
Author(s):  
Ayelet Shachar
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Legal Pluralism ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Expressive Function

The requirements of naturalization tell us a great deal about a given society’s vision of citizenship, the expressive function of law, and the power dynamics revealed when one stands on the cusp of membership. Contributing the burgeoning literature on global and domestic legal pluralism, this chapter explores how states determine “who belongs” to the political community, and according to what criteria. It also reveals the centrality of agency and resistance in testing the boundaries of membership. Combining insights from law and political theory, the chapter offers a fascinating study of the textual and performative aspects of the citizenship oath and its centrality to the process of becoming a member, especially in diverse societies negotiating the trilemma of constituting identity, respecting diversity, and promoting equality.

Taking People As They Are: Islam As a “Realistic Utopia” in the Political Theory of Sayyid Qutb

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW F. MARCH
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Sayyid Qutb ◽  
Political Origins

This article presents an interpretation of Sayyid Qutb's political theory based on a prominent feature of his thought: the claim that Islamic law and human nature (fitra) are in perfect harmony, and that the demands of Islamic law are easy and painless for ordinary human moral capacities. I argue that Qutb is not only defending Islamic law as true and obligatory, but also as a coherent “realistic utopia”—a normative theory that also contains a psychological account of that theory's feasibility. Qutb's well-known fascination with the earliest generation of Muslims (the salaf) is an integral part of this account that serves two functions: (1) as a model of the feasibility and realism of an ideal Islamic political order, and (2) as a genealogy of the political origins of moral vice in society. Qutb's project is thus an account of exactly why and how Islam requires politics, and how modern humans can be both free and governed.

Comedy in Callipolis: Animal Imagery in the Republic

1978 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 888-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene W. Saxonhouse
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Animal Imagery ◽  
Animal Images ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The City ◽  
The Ideal

The political society founded by Socrates in the Republic has been seen by many as Plato's conception of the ideal political community, his Callipolis. However, a study of the language used by Socrates as he builds his perfect city reveals an unusually heavy concentration of animal images. This language seems to undercut the ostensible perfection of Socrates' city and illustrates rather its connections to the comic world of Aristophanes, whose comedy the Birds offers the model according to which the Republic is built. It is suggested that the city of the Republic is comic and ugly, indicating the limitations of politics rather than its potentialities. The Republic argues for the need to reorient the concept of justice away from social life and towards the individual. Ultimately, the Republic suggests that the notion of social justice is laughable and fit for the comic Stage.

Is architecture relevant for political theory?

2021 ◽  
pp. 147488512110636
Author(s):  
Bart van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Common ◽  
Build Environment

Is architecture relevant for political theory? That is the key question that structures this excellent collection Political Theory and Architecture, although a number of essays fit a broader formulated theme better, namely, concerning the political relevance of the organization and design of our built environment more generally, including architecture but also spatial planning and urban design. The collection demonstrates that our build environment is not merely a passive backdrop to a political community, but actively shapes aspects of our common political life. This constitutive nature of our built environment figures in many different guises throughout this volume. In this review article, I discuss some of these and conclude that concerns about the ‘common good’ and hence about the discipline of political theory should take reflections on urban design, planning, and architecture into account.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yair Mintzker
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Roman Empire ◽  
Holy Roman Empire ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Entire Life ◽  
Historical Figure ◽  
German Nation ◽  
German Speaking

This introductory chapter discusses how the historical figure of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer—also known as Jew Süss—is incredibly elusive, and any understanding of him must begin with the political and legal regimes under which he lived and died. Oppenheimer spent almost his entire life in the southwest corner of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. In the eighteenth century, the Holy Roman Empire was the general political organization that connected the hundreds of more or less sovereign polities in German-speaking central Europe. Especially important for understanding Oppenheimer's case is the fact that the Empire's members shared a common legal system scholars term “inquisitorial.”

The Rights Kind of Politics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke A. Ackerly
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Transformative Politics ◽  
Taking Responsibility ◽  
Normative Political Theory

Just responsibility is a way of taking responsibility for all forms of global injustice (not just women’s human rights) and to all people, even those who consider themselves removed from the politics of global injustice (though they want to be engaged). Chapter 7 applies the theory to taking responsibility through the enactment of roles in the political economy—those of consumer, donor, worker, and activist—and beyond. It summarizes the view of political community, accountability, and leadership essential to transformative politics. Just responsibility is more than a normative theory of human rights principles. It is also a normative political theory of how to carry out those principles not only in the practices proscribed by our roles in the political economy, but also in imaginative practices that defy the boundaries of those roles in order to transform the political economy. Just responsibility is a human rights theory of global justice.

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