Marsilius of Padua at the Intersection of Ancient and Medieval Traditions of Political Thought

This book focuses on the reception of classical political ideas in the political thought of the fourteenth-century Italian writer Marsilius of Padua. Vasileios Syros provides a novel cross-cultural perspective on Marsilius’s theory and breaks fresh ground by exploring linkages between his ideas and the medieval Muslim, Jewish, and Byzantine traditions. Syros investigates Marsilius’s application of medical metaphors in his discussion of the causes of civil strife and the desirable political organization. He also demonstrates how Marsilius’s demarcation between ethics and politics and his use of examples from Greek mythology foreshadow early modern political debates (involving such prominent political authors as NiccolÒ Machiavelli and Paolo Sarpi) about the political dimension of religion, church-state relations, and the emergence and decline of the state.

Table of Contents:
Bibliographical Note Acknowledgments Introduction Sources Outline of Chapters Chapter I. Marsilius’ Life and Works Chapter II. Major Intellectual Influences on Marsilius Albertino Mussato and Paduan Politics Peter of Abano and Late Medieval Natural Philosophy and Medicine Averroes Goes West: John of Jandun Muslim and Jewish Influences Chapter III. Marsilius’ Political Theory Marsilius and Aristotelian Teleology The Origins of Social Life Rhetoric and the Genesis of Civil Life The Purpose of the Political Community The Peace and Tranquility of the Political Community The Unity of the Political Community The Organization of the Political Community Marsilius’ Classification of Human Acts Marsilius and Aristotle Marsilius and Aquinas Marsilius and Maimonides Plato Transformed, Avicennian Echoes, and the Ideal Social Organization The ‘Circle of Justice’ and Functional Specialization The Idea of the Mean and the Parts of the Political Community The Emergence of Religion and the Civic Function of the Sacerdotal Part Marsilius’ Notion of Citizenship Chapter IV. Marsilius’ Legal Theory The Definition of the Law Giants on the Shoulders of Dwarfs: Legislation and a Well-ordered Political Community Cyclops with Many Eyes: Laws and Collective Prudence The legislator humanus The legislator primus The primus legislator and Sovereignty Medieval Echoes Beyond Aristotle Chapter V. Marsilius’ Theory of Government The Taxonomy of Constitutions The Five Modes of Establishing Monarchy The Appointment of the Government The Political Community as a Living Organism Conclusions Bibliography Index of Subjects Index of Places and Proper Names

About the Author :
Vasileios Syros is a Senior Research Fellow of the Academy of Finland at the Finnish Centre of Political Thought & Conceptual Change.