The Greek Tradition in Republican Thought

322 Pages·2004·2.33 MB·English

by  Eric Nelson

THE GREEK TRADITION IN REPUBLICAN THOUGHT
TheGreekTraditioninRepublicanThoughtrewritesthestandardhis-
toryofrepublicanpoliticaltheoryinEuropeandAmerica.Itargues
thatanimportantrepublicantradition,derivedfromthecentraltexts
ofGreekmoralandpoliticalphilosophy,emergedinsixteenth-century
England and contributed significantly to the ideological framework
of both the English Civil Wars and the American Founding. This
traditionattachedlittleimportancetofreedomas“non-dependence”
and saw no intrinsic value in political participation. Its central pre-
occupations were not honor and glory, but happiness (eudaimonia)
andjustice–anditdefinedthelatter,inPlato’sterms,astheruleof
thebestmen.Thissetofcommitmentsyieldedastartlingreadinessto
advocatethecorrectiveredistributionofwealthandeventheoutright
abolitionofprivateproperty.DrNelsonofferssignificantreinterpreta-
tionsofsuchcentralactorsintherepublicandramaasThomasMore,
JamesHarrington,Montesquieu,andThomasJefferson,aswellasa
radicalreappraisalofancientRomanhistoriography.
TheGreekTraditioninRepublicanThoughtisapowerfulandimag-
inative piece of intellectual excavation, and will be of great interest
toscholarsandstudentsofthehistoryofideas,politicaltheory,early
modernhistory,andAmericanstudies.
eric nelson has been a Research Fellow of Trinity College,
CambridgeandiscurrentlyaJuniorFellowintheSocietyofFellows,
HarvardUniversity.Thisishisfirstbook.

ideas in context
EditedbyQuentinSkinner(GeneralEditor),LorraineDaston,
DorothyRossandJamesTully
Thebooksinthisserieswilldiscusstheemergenceofintellectualtraditionsandof
relatednewdisciplines.Theprocedures,aimsandvocabulariesthatweregenerated
will be set in the context of the alternatives available within the contemporary
frameworksofideasandinstitutions.Throughdetailedstudiesoftheevolutionof
such traditions, and their modification by different audiences, it is hoped that a
newpicturewillformofthedevelopmentofideasintheirconcretecontexts.By
thismeans,artificialdistinctionsbetweenthehistoryofphilosophy,ofthevarious
sciences,ofsocietyandpolitics,andofliteraturemaybeseentodissolve.
TheseriesispublishedwiththesupportoftheExxonFoundation.
Alistofbooksintheserieswillbefoundattheendofthevolume.

THE GREEK TRADITION IN
REPUBLICAN THOUGHT
ERIC NELSON
  
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Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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© Eric Nelson 2004
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without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2004
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