The Defender of the Peace of Marsilius of Padua is a massively influential text in the history of western political thought. Marsilius offers a detailed analysis and explanation of human political communities, before going on to attack what he sees as the obstacles to peaceful human coexistence - principally the contemporary papacy. Annabel Brett's authoritative rendition of the Defensor Pacis was the first new translation in English for fifty years, and a major contribution to the series of Cambridge Texts: all of the usual series features are provided, included chronology, notes for further reading, and up-to-date annotation aimed at the student reader encountering this classic of medieval thought for the first time. This edition of The Defender of the Peace is a scholarly and a pedagogic event of great importance, of interest to historians, political theorists, theologians and philosophers at all levels from second-year undergraduate upwards.

This innovative collection points to the need for a reevaluation of the origins of toleration theory. Philosophers, intellectual historians, and political theorists have assumed that the development of the theory of toleration has been a product of the modern world, and John Locke is usually regarded as the first theorist of toleration. The contributors to Difference and Dissent, however, discuss a range of conceptual positions that were employed by medieval and early modern thinkers to support a theory of toleration, and question the claim that Locke's theory of toleration was as original or philosophically adequate as his adherents have asserted.

Containing the latest scholarship by an international group of scholars, this book provides an essential guide both to the life and works of Marsilius of Padua as well as to the leading interpretive debates surrounding one of the greatest thinkers of the Latin Middle Ages.

From Greek antiquity to the latest theories, this historical survey of political philosophy not only covers the major thinkers in the field but also explores the theme of how political philosophy relates to the nature of man. It illustrates how the great political thinkers have always grounded their political thought in what the author terms a "normative anthropology," which typically has not only ethical but metaphysical and/or theological components. Starting with the ancient Greek Sophists, author Michael J. White examines how thinkers over the centuries have approached such political and philosophical concerns as justice, morality, and human flourishing, offering substantial studies of--among others--Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx, and J. S. Mill. White highlights the impact of Christianity on political philosophy, illustrating the diversity of that impact by studies of Augustine, Aquinas, and Marsilius of Padua. Concluding with an in-depth analysis of John Rawls and contemporary liberal political philosophy, this text blends insight and information in a refreshing and useful manner. A brief Epilogue considers both the value and the limitations of political philosophy and its study.

Perhaps no author of the Latin Middle Ages has been the subject of so much controversy and even vitriol than Marsilius of Padua (ca. 1275-1342/43). As author of the notorious heretical tract, the Defensor Pacis, Marsilius became an infamous figure throughout the intellectual and political centres of Europe during his own lifetime. His magnum opus, a sharply pointed dissection of the damage done to earthly political life by the incursions of the papacy and a plea for conciliar ecclesiology, was repeatedly condemned during the fourteenth century and in later years. Yet the treatise continued to be disseminated and received translation into several vernacular languages. During the Reformation, Marsilius and his Defensor Pacis enjoyed another round of acclamation and denunciation, depending upon one's confession. In July 2003, a group comprising many of the world's most renowned scholars of medieval political thought gathered for a 'Marsilius of Padua World Congress', held in conjunction with the tenth International Medieval Congress held in July 2003 in Leeds.The present volume contains selected papers originally prepared for that meeting. The contents represent a compendium of innovative scholarly contributions to the understanding of Marsilius, his life and times, and his lasting impact on Western thought. Included are chapters that reflect a range of recent, ground-breaking research by both senior scholars and the future leaders in the field. After a general survey of the current state of scholarship on Marsilius, the volume divides into three thematically organized sections, covering a variety of historical, textual, methodological, theological, and theoretical questions.In all of the essays, readers will discover the wealth and complexity of Marsilius's thought as well as the startling range of approaches and methods of interpretation taken in the study of his work.The volume's selection of authors is international in scope and represents the first interdisciplinary scholarly collaboration in the field of Marsilian studies to occur in the twenty-first century.

Through a focused and systematic examination of late medieval scholastic writers - theologians, philosophers and jurists - Joseph Canning explores how ideas about power and legitimate authority were developed over the 'long fourteenth century'. The author provides a new model for understanding late medieval political thought, taking full account of the intensive engagement with political reality characteristic of writers in this period. He argues that they used Aristotelian and Augustinian ideas to develop radically new approaches to power and authority, especially in response to political and religious crises. The book examines the disputes between King Philip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII and draws upon the writings of Dante Alighieri, Marsilius of Padua, William of Ockham, Bartolus, Baldus and John Wyclif to demonstrate the variety of forms of discourse used in the period. It focuses on the most fundamental problem in the history of political thought - where does legitimate authority lie?

This monograph demonstrates why humanism began in Italy in the mid-thirteenth century. It considers Petrarch a third generation humanist, who christianized a secular movement. The analysis traces the beginning of humanism in poetry and its gradual penetration of other Latin literary genres, and, through stylistic analyses of texts, the extent to which imitation of the ancients produced changes in cognition and visual perception. The volume traces the link between vernacular translations and the emergence of Florence as the leader of Latin humanism by 1400 and why, limited to an elite in the fourteenth century, humanism became a major educational movement in the first decades of the fifteenth. It revises our conception of the relationship of Italian humanism to French twelfth-century humanism and of the character of early Italian humanism itself. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.

Few authors of the Latin Middle Ages have been the subject of so much attention as Marsilius of Padua (c. 1275-1342/43). Known primarily for his Defensor pacis, Marsilius quickly garnered for himself the reputation of being a heretic as well as a schismatic. At the same time, however, it became evident that he was perhaps one of the brightest - if not most dangerous - thinkers of the fourteenth century. The political ideas and activities of Marsilius of Padua have engendered a substantial literature and numerous debates. The present volume serves as a much needed guide to the life and works of the Paduan thinker. It provides readers with a scholarly treatment and evaluation of the various interpretative schools and debates concerning Marsilus based on the latest relevant research. As such, the present volume will appeal to scholars interested in the importance and influence of one of the greatest authors of the European Middle Ages. Contributors include: Gerson Moreno-Riaño, Cary J. Nederman, Frank Godthardt, William Courtenay, Michael Sweeney, Gianluca Briguglia, Takashi Shogimen, Roberto Lambertini, Bettina Koch, and Thomas Izbicki.

Few aspects of American military history have been as vigorously debated as Harry Truman's decision to use atomic bombs against Japan. In this carefully crafted volume, Michael Kort describes the wartime circumstances and thinking that form the context for the decision to use these weapons, surveys the major debates related to that decision, and provides a comprehensive collection of key primary source documents that illuminate the behavior of the United States and Japan during the closing days of World War II. Kort opens with a summary of the debate over Hiroshima as it has evolved since 1945. He then provides a historical overview of thye events in question, beginning with the decision and program to build the atomic bomb. Detailing the sequence of events leading to Japan's surrender, he revisits the decisive battles of the Pacific War and the motivations of American and Japanese leaders. Finally, Kort examines ten key issues in the discussion of Hiroshima and guides readers to relevant primary source documents, scholarly books, and articles.

Models of Democracy provides a critical reassessment of major theories of democracy from ancient Greece to the present, along with the author's own prescription for revitalizing contemporary democratic politics.