Milton's Case for a Free Commonwealth

Bibliographic Data

ID6230177
AuthorsFrank Lovett (0000-0002-9745-5559, Washington University in St. Louis, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume49
Issue3
Pages466-478
Publication date2005-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1540-5907.2005.00135.x
OpenAlexW2058855146
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited24

This article will examine the development of John Milton's arguments for democracy as against monarchy and other sorts of autocratic rule. These arguments are interesting both in their own right and insofar as they shed light on historiographical debates concerning the classical republican tradition. Milton is shown to hold a negative conception of liberty, as opposed to a positive or participatory conception, which lends support to the neo‐roman interpretation of that tradition, associated with Quentin Skinner and Philip Pettit. However, it is further shown that Sinner and Pettit misunderstand the classical republicans' case for democracy, attributing to them a conceptual argument in place of an empirical one. A better understanding of Milton's political theory contributes to a better understanding of this dilemma, and perhaps suggests a solution

Argument (complex analysis · Autocracy · Democracy · Dilemma · Epistemology · Historiography · Interpretation (philosophy · Monarchy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

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