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Originally published in 1963, this classic book is a rethinking of the history of Western political philosophy. Charles N. R. McCoy contrasts classical-medieval principles against the "hypotheses" at the root of modern liberalism and modern conservativism.In Part I, "The Classical Christian Tradition from Plato to Aquinas," the author lays the foundation for a philosophical "structure" capable of producing "constitutional liberty." Part II, "The Modern Theory of Politics from Machiavelli to Marx," attempts to show, beginning with Machiavelli, the reversal and destruction of the pre-modern "structure" postulated in Part I.McCoy stresses the great contributions of Aristotle to political thought found in his more familiar Ethics and Politics, but also includes key insights drawn from Metaphysics and Physics. These contributions are developed and perfected, McCoy argues, by Augustine and Aquinas. Two other important features include McCoy's epistemological insights into Plato's work that will be new to many readers and the author's juxtaposition of traditional natural law with "the modernized theory of natural law." The modern account of autonomous natural law, in McCoy's view, helps explain the totalitarian direction of key aspects of modern political thought. This classic volume on the origins of modern philosophical thought remains a standard in the field.

Excerpt from Contributions to Political Science, Vol. 2: Including Lectures on the Constitution of the United States and Other Papers Lieber does not always distinguish sharply between law and morals, in the narrow sense. Sometimes a moral right or an ethical demand appears to him like a law. For example, when he is discussing the great and essentially moral force which expresses itself, in political life, as public opinion, he represents the latter as an expression of sovereignty, that is, as public law, which is certainly not the case. True it is, that no one, not even a legitimate king, can permanently withstand the might of public opinion, and true it is, that the latter, if it holds constantly and firmly to a certain course, will finally bring about changes in the constitution itself. And just as the overwhelming power of victory in a war between states decides the fate of nations, so the peaceful but ever-growing moral power of public Opinion works on until at last it becomes irresistible.' When the mind and heart of the people are fully changed, then becomes inevitable a transformation of the state itself, which is simply a body for the soul of the people to dwell in. But these cases are no Operations of sovereignty, no expressions of the supremacy of state, but rather are they radical changes in the conditions and relations upon which the state is founded, or in the situation of its people. We can appreciate the moral worth of public opinion and we should not' fail to regard it politically, but we ought never to stamp it as law. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Originally published in 1963, this classic book is a rethinking of the history of Western political philosophy. Charles N. R. McCoy contrasts classical-medieval principles against the "hypotheses" at the root of modern liberalism and modern conservativism. In Part I, "The Classical Christian Tradition from Plato to Aquinas," the author lays the foundation for a philosophical "structure" capable of producing "constitutional liberty." Part II, "The Modern Theory of Politics from Machiavelli to Marx," attempts to show, beginning with Machiavelli, the reversal and destruction of the pre-modern "structure" postulated in Part I. McCoy stresses the great contributions of Aristotle to political thought found in his more familiar Ethics and Politics, but also includes key insights drawn from Metaphysics and Physics. These contributions are developed and perfected, McCoy argues, by Augustine and Aquinas. Two other important features include McCoy's epistemological insights into Plato's work that will be new to many readers and the author's juxtaposition of traditional natural law with "the modernized theory of natural law." The modern account of autonomous natural law, in McCoy's view, helps explain the totalitarian direction of key aspects of modern political thought. This classic volume on the origins of modern philosophical thought remains a standard in the field.