Article ID: CBB460133911

The Political Thinker as a Civil Physician: Some Thoughts on Marsilius of Padua and Machiavelli beyond Leo Strauss’ al-Fârâbî (2020)

unapi

While scholars have widely acknowledged a reliance on medical language in the political theories of Marsilius of Padua and Niccolò Machiavelli, they have rarely investigated the epistemological status of this appropriation. Questioning Leo Strauss’ claim that Jewish-Arabic Platonic ideas on the philosopher-king could have been a possible model for Marsilius and Machiavelli, this paper aims to show that the use of medical language by Marsilius of Padua and Machiavelli entails a form of political knowledge that is decidedly at odds with any kind of Platonic philosophical politics. This article makes the claim that, in their political theories, Marsilius and Machiavelli break with two key assumptions of Platonism: first, that philosophy as “absolute self-knowledge” is needed to rule; and, second, that philosophers must be lawgivers or legislators.

...More
Included in

Article Vasileios Syros (2020) The Body Politic from Medieval Lombardy to the Dutch Republic: An Introduction. Early Science and Medicine: A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period (pp. 1-7). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB460133911/

Similar Citations

Article Miguel Vatter; (2019)
Of Asses and Nymphs: Machiavelli, Platonic Theology and Epicureanism in Florence (/isis/citation/CBB860387510/)

Chapter Floriano Jonas Cesar; (2015)
Crossing Borders: Medical Ideas in Late Medieval Non-Medical Areas (/isis/citation/CBB765947097/)

Chapter Lizzini, Olga; (2008)
Le cosmologie di Alfarabi e di Avicenna (/isis/citation/CBB001020554/)

Article Robinson, James T.; (2009)
Samuel Ibn Tibbon's Peruš ha-Millot ha-Zarot and al-Farabi's Eisagoge and Categories (/isis/citation/CBB000930648/)

Book Lloyd P. Gerson; (2013)
From Plato to Platonism (/isis/citation/CBB685278391/)

Article Syros, Vasileios; (2013)
Galenic Medicine and Social Stability in Early Modern Florence and the Islamic Empires (/isis/citation/CBB001200593/)

Book Furdell, Elizabeth Lane; (2001)
Royal Doctors, 1485-1714: Medical Personnel at the Tudor and Stuart Courts (/isis/citation/CBB000102179/)

Chapter Francesco Bianchi; (2020)
Dal xenodochium all'hospitale. Origini e sviluppi delle istituzioni ospedaliere nel medioevo (/isis/citation/CBB304944608/)

Chapter Chiara Crisciani; (2019)
Sensi e Ingenium in alchimia e chirurgia (/isis/citation/CBB971142790/)

Chapter C. J. Duffin; (2013)
Lithotherapeutical Research Sources from Antiquity to the Mid-Eighteenth Century (/isis/citation/CBB340966962/)

Article Joël Chandelier; (2020)
The Diffusion and Influence of Arabic Medicine in Late Medieval Europe: An Overview (/isis/citation/CBB207385093/)

Article Bruno Laurioux; (2020)
The Spices and the Transmission of the Arabic Culinary Knowledge in Europe (/isis/citation/CBB776309825/)

Book Anna Akasoy; Guido Giglioni; (2013)
Renaissance Averroism and Its Aftermath: Arabic Philosophy in Early Modern Europe (/isis/citation/CBB733744238/)

Authors & Contributors
Hladký, Vojtech
Pittalis, Edoardo
Duranti, Tommaso
C. J. Duffin
Francesco Bianchi
Floriano Jonas Cesar
Concepts
Medicine
Medicine and politics
Arab/Islamic world, civilization and culture
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Physicians; doctors
Philosophy
Time Periods
Renaissance
Medieval
Early modern
Ancient
18th century
17th century
Places
Italy
Europe
England
Florence (Italy)
France
Hellenistic world
Institutions
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment