Early Modern Political Thought

Versión corregida del texto del mismo título subido hace un par de días. Numerosos deslices de tipeo y faltas menores de redacción han sido subsanados aquí. Una nota al pie que no figuraba en la versión anterior, es el único cambio aportado.

Este trabajo de investigación constituyó el germen de mi tesis doctoral, defendida en la UNLP, acerca de la presencia de ciertos aspectos político-subjetivos en la obra teatral de W. Shakespeare. En este escrito germinal, el centro de interés de los fenómenos político-subjetivos considerados, se concentra en el examen de las sucesivas nociones de libertad (o de una mayoría de ellas) imperantes en aquellos tiempos temprano-modernos, y esto no solamente en Inglaterra (aunque, desde luego, mayormente en la isla). La producción política del sujeto se mide aquí, por tanto, como trabajo del sujeto sobre su propia libertad, hasta donde sea que ella pueda llegar de acuerdo con cada caso, situación o circunstancia. En un sentido sartreano que el escrito no desarrolla (ni siquiera menciona), la identidad libertad/sujeto encuentra en la pieza "Hamlet" (según se arguye) su ápice de claridad conceptual.

Este trabajo de investigación constituyó el germen de mi tesis doctoral, defendida en la UNLP, acerca de la presencia de ciertos aspectos político-subjetivos en la obra teatral de W. Shakespeare. En este escrito germinal, el centro de interés de los fenómenos político-subjetivos considerados, está concetrado en el examen de sucesivas nociones de libertad imperantes en aquellos tiempos temprano-modernos, y esto no solamente en Inglaterra (aunque, desde luego, mayormente en la isla). La producción política del sujeto se mide aquí, por tanto, como trabajo del sujeto sobre su propia libertad, hasta donde sea que ella pueda llegar de acuerdo con cada caso, situación o circunstancia. En un sentido sartreano que el escrito no desarrolla (ni siquiera menciona), la identidad libertad/sujeto encuentra en la pieza "Hamlet" (según se arguye) su ápice de claridad conceptual.

Queen Elizabeth I plays a relevant role in two of Lope de Vega’s ambitious yet rarely studied epic poems: "La Dragontea" (1598) and "Corona trágica. Vida y muerte de la serenísima reina de Escocia María Estuarda" (1627). Scholars who have approached these works have recurrently pointed out that Lope presents Elizabeth I from a religious point of view, portraying her principally as a heretic and a pawn of Satan, a negative depiction of the English queen that has been linked to the Fénix’s militant Catholicism. However, even though it is true that Lope’s poetical depiction of Elizabeth I makes abundant use of the religious propaganda of the time, this perspective is not the only component of the construction of the queen’s fictionalized image, as we must also pay attention to the political elements that play a role in the way Lope represented her. In this essay I will focus on how the Spanish writer presented Elizabeth I in his epic poems as a more complex figure of a failed monarch, affected by defects associated to the tyrant and the heretic, but also open to political strategizing. This approach offers an additional layer of interpretation to Lope’s portrayal of this English queen, which relates to the reflections on the limits of power that took place in Early Modern Spain and the always-present interweaving of religion and politics.

Well before the publication of the Parallèle de la situation de la République de Hollande avec celle de la République de Gênes (1747), the Republic of Genoa was commonly regarded, among the Italian states, as having the most similar regime to that of the Dutch Republic. Indeed several Italian authors, at the end of the seventeenth century, wrote accounts or political treatises which pointed out many similarities between these two governments, or even tried to better comprehend the uniqueness of the Dutch Republic, balancing its political and economical status with that of Genoa.
The paper aims to analyze the Italian consideration of the United Provinces at the end of the seventeenth century, looking at the political writings of authors whose works deals both with the Republic of Genoa and the Dutch Republic, such as Gualdo Priorato (1606-1678), Gregorio
Leti (1630-1701) and Gian Paolo Marana (1642-1693). These authors, whose texts were widely read during the eighteenth-century, and shaped – especially in the case of Leti – the Italian approach to the Dutch Republic, often focus on connections between Genoa and the Dutch
Republic. They underline the similarities between the role of the Doge and that of the Prince of Orange, they celebrate the commercial and proto-capitalistic attitude of these two states and the common rhetoric of freedom, but they also notice the same weaknesses in the two countries’ foreign policies, in their relations with the powerful monarchies of Spain and France. This comparative analysis will allow not only to better comprehend the Italian considerations about the
Dutch Republic at the end of the seventeenth century, but also to show how the Dutch constitution was often idealized and presented as a model for a future redemption of the depressed Italian Republics.

Drawing on a large body of amply documented scholarship in critical theory and historiography from the past twenty years, Nigel Wheale's Writing and Society offers an accessible and informative introduction to early modern English culture interrelation of print, politics, and increasing popular literacy....

De récents apports historiographiques ont mis en évidence le rôle des nobles français comme acteurs non-étatiques des relations internationales à l’époque moderne. Cet article présente une synthèse de ces renouvellements de la recherche. Les nobles français agissent sur la scène internationale en appelant des puissances étrangères à leur secours lors de leurs révoltes, mais également en prenant diverses initiatives politiques ou militaires à l’étranger, hors de la mainmise de la monarchie. Ces actions résultent à la fois des structures sociales nobiliaires (parenté transnationale, situations de vassalités multiples), mais également de certains aspects de l’éthos aristocratique (devoir de conseil, défense de l’honneur dynastique, droit de changer de maître). Tandis que la monarchie essaye de produire des normes et des techniques de surveillance tendant à réprimer ces initiatives nobiliaires, les puissances étrangères qui y trouvent un intérêt formalisent leurs liens avec les nobles français (traités de protection, octroi de charges militaires et gouvernementales).

Antonio de Capmany and the renewal of Catalan political historicism.
Abstract: This conference, enlarged with notes and documentary appendix, situates the start of Capmany's contributions to Catalan and Spanish political thought in the context of the crisis in relations between Catalan society and the monarchy caused by resistance to the implantation of a compulsory military service ordered by Carlos III de Borbón. The clear implication of the workers and entrepreneurs of the emerging Barcelona cotton industry in the riot against the military draw in May 1773 motivated the slogan of de-urbanizing the industry launched by Pedro Rodríguez Campomanes in his Discurso sobre el fomento de la industria popular of 1774. The immediate response of Capmany in defense of the urban economy, of the economic corporations and of the political function of commons in his Discurso político económico concentrates his criticisms on the purely speculative character of the Campomanes theory. By supporting the defense of historical structures in empirical arguments, Capmany managed to give a modern image of the Catalan claims and, even, to propose the Catalan economy as a model for the general development of Spain.


Antonio de Capmany y la renovación del historicismo político catalán.
Resumen: Esta conferencia, ampliada con notas y apéndice documental, sitúa el arranque de las aportaciones de Capmany al pensamiento político catalán y español en el contexto de la crisis de las relaciones entre la sociedad catalana y la monarquía ocasionada por la resistencia a la implantación de un servicio militar obligatorio ordenada por Carlos III de Borbón. La clara implicación de los trabajadores y empresarios de la emergente manufactura algodonera barcelonesa en el motín contra el sorteo militar en mayo de 1773 motivó la consigna de desurbanizar la industria lanzada por Pedro Rodríguez Campomanes en su Discurso sobre el fomento de la industria popular de 1774. La inmediata respuesta de Capmany en defensa de la economía urbana, de las corporaciones económicas y de la función política del estamento popular en su Discurso político económico concentra sus críticas en el carácter puramente especulativo de la teoría de Campomanes. Al apoyar la defensa de las estructuras históricas en argumentos empíricos, Capmany consiguió dar una imagen moderna de las reivindicaciones catalanas e, incluso, proponer la economía catalana como modelo para el desarrollo general de España.

מסת ביקורת בעקבות פרסומו בעברית של חיבורו של אטיין דה לה בואסי על השעבוד מרצון (Étienne de La Boétie, Discours de la servitude volontaire). הטקסט התפרסם במוסף ספרים, הארץ, 4.6.2007. נוסח מתוקן – בנוסח שהתפרסם בעיתון נפלו כמה שיבושים. גדי אלגזי

«Ανάμεσα στην ουτοπία και στον ρεπουμπλικανισμό: Το παράδειγμα του James Harrington», ανακοίνωση στο 2o Πανελλήνιο Συνέδριο Πολιτικής Φιλοσοφίας θέμα «Πολιτική Θεωρία: τί δεῖ τὸ κύριον εἶναι τῆς πόλεως; «Ποια πρέπει να είναι η κυρίαρχη εξουσία της πολιτείας;» (Αριστοτέλης, Πολιτικά 3.1281a 11), Σύλλογος Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλοσοφίας «σύν Ἀθηνᾷ» (Καβάλα, 18-20 Νοεμβρίου, 2016)

This book uses innovative methodological techniques to identify and explain dramatic changes in Thomas Hobbes’s religious arguments across his three major political works —Elements of Law (1640), De Cive/On the Citizen (1642), and Leviathan (1651). Despite a burgeoning literature on Hobbes and religion, no one has rigorously documented (1) his increasing focus on scripture, (2) his growing attention to the Old Testament in particular, or (3) his progressive adoption of a multi-pronged strategy of religious argument. This book will be the first to systematically explain why Hobbes was increasingly concerned with violent religious pluralism and to account for his ever-more sophisticated responses to it.

Absolving God makes three major contributions. Its scholarly contribution is to show how we can explain many of Hobbes’s most puzzling and politically risky arguments once we recognize how they track the very specific religious debates that fueled Britain’s bloody civil war. The book’s methodological contribution is to show how automated text analysis can give a more comprehensive and precise account of the arguments to which Hobbes was responding. Except for some of my own collaborative work (see below), these methodological tools have not been used by political theorists.

The book’s contemporary relevance comes from showing why a major political thinker thought that the best strategy for dealing with dangerous religious enthusiasm is to meet it on its own terms. Absolving God also isolates the very specific distinctive argumentative tactics that Hobbes thought would be most effective for defusing violent sectarian conflict and evaluates their potential use today.

From climate change to nuclear war to the rise of demagogic populists, our world is shaped by doomsday expectations. In this path-breaking book, Alison McQueen shows why three of history's greatest political realists feared apocalyptic politics. Niccolò Machiavelli in the midst of Italy's vicious power struggles, Thomas Hobbes during England's bloody civil war, and Hans Morgenthau at the dawn of the thermonuclear age all saw the temptation to prophesy the end of days. Each engaged in subtle and surprising strategies to oppose apocalypticism, from using its own rhetoric to neutralize its worst effects to insisting on a clear-eyed, tragic acceptance of the human condition. Scholarly yet accessible, this book is at once an ambitious contribution to the history of political thought and a work that speaks to our times.

LEXIKON 11-2 Politisch-rechtliches Lexikon der "Politica" des Johannes Althusius : die Kunst der heilig-unverbrüchlichen, gerechten, angemessenen und glücklichen symbiotischen Gemeinschaft / hrsg. von Corrado Malandrino und Dieter Wyduckel. [Ins Dt. übertr. von Florian Neumann].-Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, 2010.-XIV, 394 S. ; 24 cm.-Einheitssacht.: Il lessico della Po-litica di Johannes Althusius <dt.>.-ISBN 978-3-428-12975-1 : EUR 28.00 [#1182] Gleichsam im Nachgang zur Veröffentlichung wichtiger Auszüge aus dem Hauptwerk des Johannes Althusius im Jahre 2003 1 und im Vorlauf zu einer kompletten lateinisch-deutschen Ausgabe des Werkes, die für das nächste Jahr geplant ist, erscheint ein höchst lesenswertes und gelungenes Buch, das als Schlüssel zum Verständnis des in jüngster Zeit wieder stärkere Aufmerksamkeit findenden Politiktheoretikers dienen kann. Die Nutzanwen-dung des politischen Denkens von Althusius in der Gegenwart wird man si-cher kritisch beurteilen müssen, doch lohnt die Beschäftigung mit ihm alle-mal, vor allem, wenn man sich die Bewertung Peter Nitschkes in Erinnerung ruft, der Althusius "eine der anspruchsvollsten Theorien der frühneuzeitli-chen Politik'" zugeschrieben hat. 2 Es handelt sich bei dem vorliegenden Band um das lobenswerte Ergebnis einer deutsch-italienischen Kooperation, die für Politikwissenschaftler, Juri-sten und Historiker von Interesse sein dürfte. Das Buch ist die deutsche Ausgabe des bereits 2005 erschienenen Lessico della politica di Johan-1 Politik / Johannes Althusius. Übers. von Heinrich Janssen. In Ausw. hrsg., übe-rarb. und eingel. von Dieter Wyduckel.-Berlin : Duncker und Humblot, 2003.-LXXXII, 449 S. : Ill. ; 24 cm.-ISBN 3-428-11159-1: EUR 24.80. 2 Siehe Handbuch Staatsdenker / Rüdiger Voigt ; Ulrich Weiß (Hg.). Unter Mi-tarb. von Krisztina Adorján.-Stuttgart : Steiner, 2010.-462 S. ; 25 cm.-(Rechts-philosophie).-ISBN 978-3-515-09511-2 : EUR 44.

The problem of the power seeker is of crucial importance for Hobbes's political philosophy. While education might aid in changing the behavior of some people, Hobbes is clear that there are limits to the effectiveness of education and that incurable, unsocial power seekers will persist. In my analysis, I ask whether and, if so, how Hobbes can also get these incurable power seekers on board. The result of my findings that Hobbes provides a huge variety of treatments for power seekers, including incentives to betray and exploit their fellow citizens by employing a public gesture of civility, has implications for Hobbes research: it shows the complexity and costs of Hobbes's "solution" to the problem of war and corrects a widespread developmental hypothesis about the concept of honor in Hobbes's works. Thereby, it can also enrich a recent diagnosis about the decline of honor in modern societies.

Book review of Elisabetta Fiocchi Malaspina, L’eterno ritorno del Droit des gens di Emer di Vattel (secc. XVIII-XIX). L’impatto sulla cultura giuridica in prospettiva globale, Global Perspectives on Legal History, Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main, 2017, xiii + 352 pages-.