scholarly journals El deseo natural de libertad y la inacción política. Una crítica al significado de la servidumbre voluntaria y la libertad natural en el Discurso de Étienne de la Boétie / The Natural Desire of Freedom and Political Inaction: A critique of the meaning of voluntary servitude and natural freedom in the Discourse of Étienne de la Boétie

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-74
Author(s):  
Jesús Fernández Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Etienne De La Boetie ◽  
History Of ◽  
Voluntary Servitude

ABSTRACTThe objective of this paper is the critical analysis of the concept of “voluntary servitude”; and its implications for the freedom posed by Étienne de la Boétie and its relation to the natural desire for freedom. In particular, some ideas from the Discourses of servitude volontaire (1576) are analyzed, starting with a general introduction and the implications of the work in the history of political ideas. The central part of this paper focuses on the problem that society desire to serve, in other words: the desire for slavery and rejection of freedom. For La Boétie, these ideas go against human nature. These problems are those that are discussed from a political theory that goes against the “monolithic thinking”; and that highlights some of the author’s conceptual errors from the perspective of “political”; and the irrelevance of standards of perfection for a feasible political-social organization.RESUMENEl objetivo de este artículo es el análisis crítico del concepto de “servidumbre voluntaria” y sus implicaciones para la libertad que plantea Étienne de la Boétie y su relación con el deseo natural de libertad. En particular se analizan algunas ideas de la obra Discours de la servitude volontaire (1576) comenzando por una introducción general y las implicaciones de la obra en la historia de las ideas políticas. La parte central radica en el problema que plantea para la sociedad el deseo de servir de los hombres o, en otras palabras: el deseo de esclavitud y rechazo de la libertad. Todo ello va contra la naturaleza humana según La Boétie. Estos problemas son los que se discuten a partir de un planteamiento de teoría política que va contra el “pensamiento único” y que destaca algunos de los errores conceptuales del autor desde la óptica de la “realidad política” y la poca relevancia que tienen los estándares de perfección para una organización político-social factible.

Between philosophy, science, politics: Anthropology of Marxism by C. Robinson

2020 ◽  
pp. 132-136
Author(s):  
G.A. Shuliko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Social Consciousness ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Conceptual History ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
History Of ◽  
Socialist Movement

Presented is a review of latest edition of book by C. Robinson’s (1946–2016) “An anthropology of Marxism". The article begins with a short introduction to why Robinson’s work might be of interest to Russian reader. What follows is a critical analysis of how Robinson views Marxist views of his own conceptual history. Skillfully combining the civilizational approach and the principle of historicism, Robinson comes to the conclusion, that there are a number of weaknesses in the materialist conception of history. One of the key weaknesses, from Robinson’s point of view, is the history of pre-capitalist European socialism, i.e. Marxism, due to specific perception of capitalism, is divorced from the centuries-old history of European actions of social lower classes. Rethinking the historical place of Marxism can productively affect both the study of Marxism itself and socio-political ideas about humanity as a whole. Using a number of historical examples, Robinson shows the importance of various pre-capitalist forms of social consciousness (ancient philosophy, religion, etc.) for formation of the socialist movement in its classical forms.

Interpretation and the History of Political Theory: Apology and Epistemology

1982 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G. Gunnell
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Historical Investigation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Textual Meaning ◽  
The Relationship

Recent challenges to traditional approaches and purposes for studying the history of political theory have raised questions about its constitution as both a subject matter and subfield of political science. Methodological arguments advocating what is characterized as a more truly historical mode of inquiry for understanding political ideas and recovering textual meaning have become increasingly popular. The relationship of these hermeneutical claims about historicity, such as that advanced by Quentin Skinner, to the actual practice of interpretation is problematical. Such claims are more a defense of a certain norm of historical investigation than a method of interpretation, and the implications of this norm for the reconstitution of the history of political theory require careful consideration.

Ideology Hunting: The Case of James Harrington

1959 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 662-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith N. Shklar
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
English Civil War ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
History Of

It is well known that each age writes history anew to serve its own purposes and that the history of political ideas is no exception to this rule. The precise nature of these changes in perspective, however, bears investigation. For not only can their study help us to understand the past; it may also lead us to a better understanding of our own intellectual situation. In this quest the political theories of the 17th century and particularly of the English Civil War are especially rewarding. It was in those memorable years that all the major issues of modern political theory were first stated, and with the most perfect clarity. As we have come to reject the optimism of the eighteenth century, and the crude positivism of the nineteenth, we tend more and more to return to our origins in search of a new start. This involves a good deal of reinterpretation, as the intensity with which the writings of Hobbes and Locke, for instance, are being reexamined in England and America testify. These philosophical giants have, however, by the force of their ideas been able to limit the scope of interpretive license. A provocative minor writer, such as Harrington, may for this reason be more revealing. The present study is therefore not only an effort to explain more soundly Harrington's own ideas, but also to treat him as an illustration of the mutations that the art of interpreting political ideas has undergone, and, perhaps to make some suggestions about the problems of writing intellectual history in general.

scholarly journals A Founder on Founding: Jefferson's Advice to Koraes

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Ioannis D. Evrigenis
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Thomas Jefferson ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
Years Of Experience ◽  
American Founding ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Life ◽  
Over Time

<p>In 1823, shortly after the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, and in the context of a general attempt to gather support for the Greek cause, Adamantios Koraes wrote to Thomas Jefferson, whom he had met once in Paris, to request his advice on the founding of a Greek state. Although brief, the exchange between the two men provides a rare, if not unique, record of a founder's advice to an aspiring emulator. Koraes' role in Greek political and intellectual life, coupled with Jefferson's fame, have made the correspondence between the two men a source of some interest among Greek scholars, but Jefferson's advice has never been studied in the context of his broader political theory. This paper traces the history of the acquaintance of the two men and of their subsequent correspondence, and places Jefferson's recommendations in the context of his political thought. Written as it was with the benefit of a long life in politics and more than forty-five years of experience from the American founding, Jefferson's advice to Koraes provides a singular opportunity to assess his political ideas over time.</p>

Original Sin as the Evil Inclination–A Polemicist's Appreciation of Human Nature

1980 ◽  
Vol 73 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 495-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Thought ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
History Of ◽  
Methodological Shortcoming

Studies on the essence and development of the concept of original sin abound. Not only has this fundamental tenet of Christian theology played an important role in the history of Western religious thought, but it continues to command the attention of scholars and theologians even today. Given this great interest, one is occasionally surprised at the narrowness of the historical and religious framework to which many have confined their discussions of original sin. All too often, scholars have overlooked the significance which events within the community they are examining or parallel developments in other religious communities might have for explicating a new direction in the history of this doctrine. While the present study can hope neither to reformulate the findings of the voluminous literature on original sin nor to compensate in large measure for this methodological shortcoming at times inherent in it, it will attempt to demonstrate by example how the notion of original sin did not evolve in a historical vacuum. It both drew from and contributed to prevalent philosophical and political theory, and it even interacted significantly with non-Christian religious concepts.

Figural Judaism and Political Thought in the Marquis d'Argens's Lettres juives

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-380
Author(s):  
Catherine R. Power
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
Secular Politics

AbstractDespite its immense popularity at the time of publication in the 1730s, the marquis d'Argens's (Jean-Baptiste de Boyer) Lettres juives is largely overlooked by contemporary political theorists and the history of political thought. The Lettres’ contribution is noteworthy in its multilayered literary presentation incorporating many of the polemics and paradoxes of Enlightenment ideas. It is also significant as an early example of one way that post-Christian thought made use of imagined Jews and Judaism to articulate, debate, and popularize philosophical and political ideas. In this paper, I submit that d'Argens appropriated Christian figural Judaism in the service of secular philosophical inquiry. D'Argens's imagined “Jew in speech” proved to be a fertile ground upon which to conceptualize and debate post-Christian ideas about human nature and secular politics that subsequent diverse thinkers would make use of in the centuries that followed.

From the Homeric Epic to Modern Political Theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-61
Author(s):  
Andrea Catanzaro
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Moral Virtue ◽  
English Version ◽  
Lexical Analysis ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Works

Starting from the idea that the Hobbesian English version of the Homeric poems was a translation work but especially a tool for spreading political theories and teaching moral virtue in a period when the philosopher was under censorship (Nelson, 2008 and 2012), the article focuses on a remarkable situation where original texts and Hobbesian purposes deeply diverge. In translating the Iliad and the Odyssey, Hobbes had to handle a lexicon imbued with expressions that linked men in power to the Olympian gods. Unfortunately, the existence of these ties was completely at odds with what he had previously explained in his political works; hence he had to work on it extensively. By starting from a lexical analysis and moving to the dimension of History of Political Ideas, the article will show how Hobbes bypasses this problem, in order to reach his political and educational target.

Marsilius of Padua: The Defender of the Peace

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 544-546
Author(s):  
Bettina Koch
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Marsilius Of Padua ◽  
History Of ◽  
Medieval Political Theory ◽  
The Church

Marsilius of Padua: The Defender of the Peace, Annabel Brett, ed. and trans., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. lxi, 569.Marsilius of Padua's Defensor Pacis is one of the key texts of medieval political theory. His thought forms a cornerstone of the transition from medieval to modern political reasoning and is one of the Western classics in the history of political ideas. This early fourteenth-century thinker is not only well known for his secular political thought but also for a theory of the Church that foreshadows the Reformation. The importance of Marsilius of Padua is demonstrated by a continuing and increasing scholarly interest in his ideas. Moreover, the growing number of translations and re-translations of Marsilius's writings indicates his significance for graduate and undergraduate education as well as for scholars whose primary expertise is not in medieval political thought.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sagar
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Treatise Of Human Nature ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time

This book examines how David Hume and Adam Smith forged a new way of thinking about the modern state. It considers what Hume referred to as the opinion of mankind, a political theory found in the second and third books of A Treatise of Human Nature. Smith read and absorbed Hume's arguments, adapting them to his own purposes in the construction of a political theory that would move beyond the Treatise. Both Hume and Smith rejected Thomas Hobbes's vision of human nature and his arguments about our capacity to form stable societies over time. The book discusses Hume's theory of sociability, the role of history and the family in debates over human sociability and the foundations of politics, and Smith's theory of regime forms. This introduction provides an overview of the theory of the state and the history of political thought.

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