Democracy and the Body Politic from Aristotle to Hobbes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6350190 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sophie Smith (0000-0002-9755-5437, Christ Church, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 167-196 |
| Publication date | 2018-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0090591716649984 |
| OpenAlex | W2511856451 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
The conventional view of Hobbes’s commonwealth is that it was inspired by contemporary theories of tyranny. This article explores the idea that a paradigm for Hobbes’s state could in fact be found in early modern readings of Aristotle on democracy, as found in Book Three of the Politics. It argues that by the late sixteenth century, these meditations on the democratic body politic had developed claims about unity, mythology, and personation that would become central to Hobbes’s own theory of the commonwealth. Tracing the history of commentary on the relevant passages in Aristotle reveals new perspectives not only on the political theories of both Aristotle and Hobbes but also introduces modern readers to the richness of early modern commentaries on classical political texts. The article ends with some thoughts on why attention to traditions of commentary might be valuable for political theorists today
Body politic · Commonwealth · Democracy · Epistemology · Mythology · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · State of nature · Theology · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theory and Influence · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
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| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,57 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2024 (6) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |