Sixteenth Century Journal · 1997 · 398 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesHistoryPhilosophyIntellectual HistoryPolitical HistoryRhetoricHistory Of PhilosophyHistory Of Political TheoryHumanismPhilosophy Of HistoryPolitical ThoughtEducation In Humanist ThoughtHistoriography Of Political TheoryHistory Of Political IdeasHistory Of Political PhilosophyHumanist HistoriographyHumanist Rhetoric
The book exemplifies the Cambridge contextual approach to intellectual history and highlights Professor Skinner’s receipt of the Balzan Prize for Political Thought, History and Theory. Skinner offers a fundamental reappraisal of Hobbes’s political theory. He achieves this by employing, for the first time, the full range of manuscript and printed sources to chart Hobbes’s intellectual development and the shift from humanism to scientific culture in European moral and political thought. Skinner’s study restores Hobbes from intellectual isolation by situating his philosophy within his humanist education, thereby providing a resource of interest to scholars in history, philosophy, politics, and literary theory.
Quentin Skinner presents a fundamental reappraisal of the political theory of Hobbes. Using, for the first time, the full range of manuscript as well as printed sources, it documents an entirely new view of Hobbes's intellectual development, and re-examines the shift from a humanist to a scientific culture in European moral and political thought. By examining Hobbes's philosophy against the background of his humanist education, Professor Skinner rescues this most difficult and challenging of political philosophers from the intellectual isolation in which he is so often discussed. This book presents a splendid exemplification of the 'Cambridge' contextual approach to the study of intellectual history with which Professor Skinner himself is especially associated. It will be of interest and importance to a wide range of scholars in history, philosophy, politics, and literary theory. Professor Skinner has been awarded the Balzan Prize Life Time Achievement Award for Political Thought, History and Theory. Full details of this award can be found at http://www.balzan.it/News_eng.aspx?ID=2474.