Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas More: on virtues, realism and utopian thinking in public administration

The authors analyze the figure of the Franciscan Francesc Eiximenis, and especially his Regiment de la cosa pública, from a reflection on medieval pedagogy and politics. Likewise, they establish meeting points between the thought, the words and the pedagogy of Eiximenis and those of other authors. So, the chapter draws a chronological-analytical line between him and other relevant figures of the 13th through the 16th centuries, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, Beatus Ramon Llull, Niccolò Machiavelli, (Saint) Thomas More, Saint Vincent Ferrer, and Joan Lluis Vives.

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Renaissance Political Philosophy

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238804.003.0013 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Mikael Hörnqvist

Keyword(s):

Political Philosophy ◽

Political Thought ◽

Niccolo Machiavelli ◽

The Other ◽

Thomas More ◽

The Road ◽

Niccolò Machiavelli ◽

Jean Bodin ◽

Renaissance Period ◽

Discourses On Livy

Since the idea of Rome and a united Christendom was the horizon within which Renaissance political thought developed, the alternatives to papal and imperial tutelage consisted in subverting the Roman-papal paradigm from within (Niccolò Machiavelli's solution) or rejecting Rome altogether (the road taken by French légistes such as Francis Hotman and Jean Bodin). This article focuses on the two most prominent, and arguably also most influential, political thinkers of the Renaissance period, Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) and Thomas More (1478–1535). Although it is highly unlikely that either author knew of the existence of the other, let alone was familiar with his work, the fact that Machiavelli's Prince (1513) and Discourses on Livy (1514–1518) and More's Utopia (1516) were written only a few years apart invites comparison. While focusing on Machiavelli and More, we must not forget that there were many other Renaissance writers, humanists, philosophers, and others, who commented on politics and contributed to the overall development of political thought and political philosophy in the period.

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The Nature of the Commonwealth

10.1093/oso/9780199674886.003.0003 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 42-62

Author(s):

Sarah Mortimer

Keyword(s):

Natural Law ◽

Political Power ◽

The State ◽

Niccolo Machiavelli ◽

Thomas More ◽

Niccolò Machiavelli ◽

Political Communities ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Church ◽

Alternative Ideas

An important catalyst for the upsurge of interest in analysing earthly political communities came in 1510, when the French king Louis XII called a Council of the Church to Pisa. Like previous Councils, it encouraged debate about the location, representation, and exercise of power, but the Council at Pisa was especially notable because its defenders—including Jacques Almain and John Mair—leaned heavily on the concept of natural law in making their case against the Pope. By appealing to natural law they made clear that they saw their writings as relevant not only to the internal workings of the Church, but to all communities, temporal as well as ecclesiastical. Soon new arguments began to circulate in Europe in which the basis of political power was grounded in natural law rather than in any direct grant of power from God. These arguments helped to explain why political power was diffused among a number of independent communities rather than united in the Empire, and they could also be used to show how and why the Church was different from the state or temporal community. This chapter also considers alternative ideas about the relationship between Christianity and politics, including those developed by Thomas More, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Francesco Guicciardini.

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Niccolò Machiavelli and Thomas More: parallel lives

The Renaissance World ◽

10.4324/9780203401163-25 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 284-306

Keyword(s):

Niccolo Machiavelli ◽

Thomas More ◽

Niccolò Machiavelli ◽

Parallel Lives

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Outsiders of Hagnopolis: unbelief, fear, and religion in Thomas More's Utopia

Moreana ◽

10.3366/more.2017.0006 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 54 (Number 207) (1) ◽

pp. 57-70

Author(s):

Ismael del Olmo

Keyword(s):

Niccolo Machiavelli ◽

Civic Life ◽

Niccolò Machiavelli ◽

Divine Retribution ◽

Eternal Punishment

This paper deals with unbelief and its relationship with fear and religion in Thomas More's Utopia. It stresses the fact that Epicurean and radical Aristotelian theses challenged Christian notions about immortality, Providence, and divine Judgement. The examples of Niccolò Machiavelli and Pietro Pomponazzi, contemporaries of More, are set to show a heterodox connection between these theses and the notion of fear of eternal punishment. More's account of the Utopian religion, on the contrary, distinguishes between human fear and religious fear. This distinction enables him to highlight the threat to spiritual and civic life posed by those who deny the soul and divine retribution.

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