Virtue Politics - Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy

James Hankins challenges the view that the Renaissance was the seedbed of modern republicanism, with Machiavelli as exemplary thinker. What most concerned Renaissance political theorists, Hankins contends, was not reforming laws but shaping citizens. To secure the social good, they fostered virtue through a new program of education: the humanities.

About the author

James Hankins is Professor of History at Harvard University and founder and General Editor of the I Tatti Renaissance Library. He is the author of Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy, winner of the Marraro Prize and a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year; Political Meritocracy in Renaissance Italy: The Virtuous Republic of Francesco Patrizi of Siena; and Plato in the Italian Renaissance; and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy. Widely regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on Renaissance philosophy and political thought, he is a Corresponding Member of the British Academy.

Summary

James Hankins challenges the view that the Renaissance was the seedbed of modern republicanism, with Machiavelli as exemplary thinker. What most concerned Renaissance political theorists, Hankins contends, was not reforming laws but shaping citizens. To secure the social good, they fostered virtue through a new program of education: the humanities.

Product details

• Authors: James Hankins, Hankins James
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2019
• EAN: 9780674237551
• ISBN: 978-0-674-23755-1
• No. of pages: 768
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political theories and the history of ideas; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Security (National & International), European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Civics & Citizenship, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, HISTORY / Military / Strategy, Defence strategy, planning & research, Political science & theory, Political leaders & leadership, Political science and theory, Military and defence strategy, Civil rights & citizenship, Political leaders and leadership, Civics and citizenship