Marsilius Of Padua The Defensor Pacis Translated With An Introd By A Gewirth

Vol. 1 published as Alan Gewirth's thesis - Columbia University. Bibliography: v. 1, p. [319]-326. Bibliographical footnotes. v. 1. Marsilius of Padua and medieval political philosophy by A. Gewirth. - v. 2. The Defensor pacis, translated with an introd. by A. Gewirth.

"The Marsilian revolution consisted not only in a radical change in the theory of the relations between religion and politics that culminated in the Protestant Reformation and other central developments of the modern era, but, even more importantly, it had an effect on the whole conception of human beings - their nature, acts, values, and sociopolitical relations.".

While earlier scholars have viewed Dante's treatise as peacefully divorced from its times, Cassell shows that Dante's pose of calm authority above the fray was at once traditional, forensic, courageous, and hard-won." "Cassell examines in close detail Dante's relations to his patron Can Grande della Scala, Pope John XXII's atempts to strip Can Grande of his privileges, the pertinent traditions of canon law, the culture of contemporary political and ecclesiastical publicists, the work of formal logicians, and the motives of Dante's first post-mortem opponent, Friar Guido Vernani. The author traces the treatise's reception through and beyond the first censorship and public burning that it suffered in Bologna at the hands of Cardinal Bertrand du Poujet in 1328."

Liberty and Law examines a previously underappreciated theme in legal history - the idea of permissive natural law. The idea is mentioned only peripherally, if at all, in modern histories of natural law. Yet it engaged the attention of jurists, philosophers, and theologians over a long period and formed an integral part of their teachings. This ensured that natural law was not conceived of as merely a set of commands and prohibitions that restricted human conduct, but also as affirming a realm of human freedom, understood as both freedom from subjection and freedom of choice. Freedom can be used in many ways, and throughout the whole period from 1100 to 1800 the idea of permissive natural law was deployed for various purposes in response to different problems that arose. It was frequently invoked to explain the origin of private property and the beginnings of civil government.