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Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought is firmly established as the major student series of texts in political theory. It aims to make available all the most important texts in the history of political thought, from ancient Greece to the twentieth century, from throughout the world and from every political tradition. All the familiar classic texts are included, but the series seeks at the same time to enlarge the conventional canon through a global scope and by incorporating an extensive range of less well-known works and previously marginalised voices, many of them never before available in a modern English edition. Where possible, the texts are published in complete and unabridged form, and translations are specially commissioned for the series. However, where appropriate, abridged or tightly focused and thematic collections are offered instead. Each volume contains a critical introduction together with chronologies, biographical sketches, a guide to further reading and any necessary glossaries and textual apparatus. Overall, the series aims to provide the reader with an outline of the entire evolution of political thinking on a global scale.

  • General Editors: Quentin Skinner, Queen Mary University of London
  • Editorial Boards: Michael Cook, Princeton University, New Jersey, Hannah Dawson, King’s College London, Adom Getachew, University of Chicago, Emma Hunter, University of Edinburgh, Gabriel Paquette, University of Oregon, Andrew Sartori, New York University, Hilde de Weerdt, Universiteit Leiden

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118 results in Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought

Page 4 of 6

A Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities
  • Charles Loyseau
  • Edited by Howell A. Lloyd
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    17 March 1994
  • This was the first English edition of a treatise which influenced French thinkers from its publication in 1610 until the end of the ancien regime. Charles Loyseau's Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities is the third of three major works in which he sets out to harmonise with law his fellow citizens' values and behaviour in the crucial sphere of possession and exercise of public power. Howell A. Lloyd's introduction outlines Loyseau's political thesis on the basis of all three of the author's treatises, and examines in relation to the Treatises of Orders Loyseau's use of literary, historical and legal materials within the philosophical framework that governed his approach. This edition thus not only makes available an important text, but also casts light upon the intellectual milieu of those who administered early-modern France.

Fénelon: Telemachus
  • Frangois de Fénelon
  • Edited by Patrick Riley
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    15 September 1994
  • Fénelon's Telemachus (1699) is, alongside Bossuet's Politics, the most important work of political theory of the grand siècle in France. It was also the most widely read work of the time, influencing Montesquieu and Rousseau in its attempt to combine monarchism with republican virtues. Fénelon tells of the moral and political education of Telemachus, young son of Ulysses, by his tutor Mentor (the goddess Minerva in disguise). Telemachus visits every corner of the Mediterranean world and learns patience, courage, modesty and simplicity, the qualities he will need when he succeeds Ulysses as King of Ithaca. It is the story of the transformation of an egoistic young man into a model ruler, and is meant (among other things) as a commentary on the bellicosity and luxuriousness of Louis XIV. The present English edition follows closely that of Tobias Smollett published in 1776.

Priestley: Political Writings
  • Joseph Priestley
  • Edited by Peter Miller
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    03 June 1993
  • Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was arguably one of the most important and interesting English theorists to focus on the issue of political liberty during the English Enlightenment. His concept of freedom is of crucial importance to two of the major issues of his day: the right of dissenters to religious toleration, and the right of the American colonists to self-government. Despite the fundamental importance of both these themes in liberal political theory and their contemporary relevance to national self-determination, Priestley's writings lack a modern edition. This new collection will be the first to make accessible to students Priestleys' Essay on the First Principles and The Present State of Liberty, which encapsulate his political ideology. An introduction and notes, together with guides to further reading and key figures in the text provide the student with all the material necessary for approaching Priestley.

Sorel: Reflections on Violence
  • Georges Sorel
  • Edited by Jeremy Jennings
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    04 November 1999
  • Georges Sorel's Reflections on Violence is one of the most controversial books of the twentieth century: J. B. Priestley argued that if one could grasp why a retired civil servant had written such a book then the modern age could be understood. It heralded the political turmoil of the decades that were to follow its publication and provided inspiration for Marxists and Fascists alike. Developing the ideas of violence, myth and the general strike, Sorel celebrates the heroic action of the proletariat as a means of saving the modern world from decadence and of re-invigorating the capitalist spirit of a timid bourgeoisie. This edition of Sorel's classic text is accompanied by an editor's introduction by Jeremy Jennings, a leading scholar of political thought, both setting the work in its context and explaining its major themes. A chronology of Sorel's life and a list of further reading are included.

Arnold: 'Culture and Anarchy' and Other Writings
  • Matthew Arnold
  • Edited by Stefan Collini
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    18 February 1993
  • Matthew Arnold's Culture and Anarchy (1869) is one of the most celebrated works of social criticism ever written. It has become an inescapable reference-point for all subsequent discussion of the relations between politics and culture, and it has exercised a profound influence both on conceptions of the distinctive nature of British society, and on ideas about education and the teaching of literature more generally. This edition establishes the authoritative text of this much-revised work, and places it alongside Arnold's three most important essays on political subjects - Democracy, Equality, and The Function of Criticism at the Present Time. The editor's substantial introduction situates these works in the context both of Arnold's life and other writings, and of nineteenth-century intellectual and political history. This edition also contains a chronology of Arnold's life, a bibliographical guide and full notes on the names, books, and historical events mentioned in the texts.

Vico: The First New Science
  • Gianbattista Vico
  • Edited by Leon Pompa
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    11 July 2002
  • The First New Science gives a clear account of Vico's mature philosophy: the belief that certain functions which are necessary for the maintenance of human society and culture, including philosophy, also condition them historically. This challenges the traditional view that philosophy can lay claim to an historically independent viewpoint, thus bringing into question the legitimacy of the claims of universal prescriptive political theories as against the de facto political beliefs of particular historical societies. This is the first of Vico's later major books in which he wrote in Italian in order not merely to expound but to demonstrate in practice, his conception of the philosophical importance of etymology. This 2002 Cambridge Texts edition is the first complete English translation of the 1725 text. Accompanied by a glossary, bibliography, chronology of Vico's life and expository introduction, it makes this important work accessible to students for the first time.

Maitland: State, Trust and Corporation
  • F. W. Maitland
  • Edited by David Runciman, Magnus Ryan
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    13 November 2003
  • The essays collected in State, Trust and Corporation contain the reflections of England's greatest legal historian on the legal, historical and philosophical origins of the idea of the state. All written in the first years of the twentieth century, Maitland's essays are classics both of historical writing and of political theory. They contain a series of profound insights into the way the character of the state has been shaped by the non-political associations that exist alongside it, and their themes are of continuing relevance today. This is the first new edition of these essays for sixty years, and the first of any kind to contain full translations, glossary and expository introduction. It has been designed to make Maitland's writings fully accessible to the non-specialist, and to make available to anyone interested in the idea of the state some of the most important modern writings in English on that subject.

Moses Hess: The Holy History of Mankind and Other Writings
  • Moses Hess
  • Edited and translated by Shlomo Avineri
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    02 December 2004
  • Moses Hess is a major figure in the development of both early communist and Zionist thought. The Holy History of Mankind appeared in 1837, and was the first book-length socialist tract to appear in Germany, representing an unusual synthesis of Judaism and Christianity that showed the considerable influence upon Hess of Spinoza, Herder and Hegel. In due course many of Hess's ideas would find their way into the work of Karl Marx, and into subsequent socialist thought. The distinguished political scientist Shlomo Avineri provides the first full English translation of this text, along with new renditions of Socialism and Communism, A Communist Credo; and The Consequences of a Future Revolution of the Proletariat. All of the usual reader-friendly series features are provided, including a chronology, concise introduction and notes for further reading, in a work of special relevance to students of politics, modern European history, and the history of Zionism.

Stirner: The Ego and its Own
  • Max Stirner
  • Edited by David Leopold
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 April 1995
  • Max Stirner's The Ego and Its Own is striking and distinctive in both style and content. First published in 1844, Stirner's distinctive and powerful polemic sounded the death-knell of left Hegelianism, with its attack on Ludwig Feuerbach, Bruno and Edgar Bauer, Moses Hess and others. It also constitutes an enduring critique of both liberalism and socialism from the perspective of an extreme eccentric individualism. Karl Marx was only one of many contemporaries provoked into a lengthy rebuttal of Stirner's argument. Stirner has been portrayed, variously, as a precursor of Nietzsche (both stylistically and substantively), a forerunner of existentialism and as an individualist anarchist. This edition of his work comprises a revised version of Steven Byington's much praised translation, together with an introduction and notes on the historical background to Stirner's text.

Maistre: Considerations on France
  • Joseph de Maistre
  • Edited by Richard A. Lebrun
  • Introduction by Isaiah Berlin
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 1994
  • Joseph de Maistre's Considerations on France is the best known French equivalent of Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. This new edition of Richard Lebrun's 1974 translation is introduced by Isaiah Berlin, with a bibliography and chronology by the translator. Published in 1797, the work of the self-exiled Maistre presents a providential interpretation of the French Revolution and argues for a new alliance of throne and altar under a restored Bourbon monarchy. Although the Directory and then Napoleon delayed Maistre's influence within France until the Restoration, he is now acknowledged as the most eloquent spokesperson for continental conservatism. Considerations on France was a shrewd piece of propaganda, but, as Isaiah Berlin contends, by arguing his case in broad historical, philosophical and religious terms, Maistre raises issues of enduring importance.

Sir John Fortescue: On the Laws and Governance of England
  • John Fortescue
  • Edited by Shelley Lockwood
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    28 February 1997
  • Sir John Fortescue CJKB (c.1395–c.1477) was undoubtedly the foremost English political scientist of the fifteenth century. This convenient volume brings together for the first time new editions of his two major works - In Praise of the Laws of England and The Governance of England - with references and suggestions for further reading for the student. In her introduction, Shelley Lockwood presents a clear reassessment of the work of John Fortescue and places these key texts in their historical and intellectual contexts. These works, arguably the earliest in English political thought, were written from the perspective of a self-consciously analytical and highly experienced lawyer and government official during a time of war and political upheaval. They form a coherent argument for justice against tyranny and afford unique insights into the law and governance of fifteenth-century England.

Filmer: 'Patriarcha' and Other Writings
  • Robert Filmer
  • Edited by Johann P. Sommerville
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    21 February 1991
  • In seventeenth-century England, patriarchalist thinking shaped English ideas not only about the family but also about society and the state. Many thinkers argued that the state should be seen as a family, and that the king held the powers of a father over his subjects. The classic texts of patriarchal political thinking were written by Sir Robert Filmer (1588–1653), one of the most acute defenders of absolute monarchy. In addition to presenting his own patriarchalist theory, Filmer's works contain incisive attacks on democratic thinking and on the notion that political obligation stems from a contract between ruler and ruled. His political works are here edited from the original manuscript and printed sources, with an introduction which locates Filmer's ideas in their historical and ideological contexts. These texts - to which John Locke replied in his influential Two Treatises of Government - provide highly important documents for the understanding of political and social ideas at a decisive stage in the development of English attitudes.

Knox: On Rebellion
  • John Knox
  • Edited by Roger A. Mason
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    20 January 1994
  • John Knox's First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, one of the most notorious political tracts of the sixteenth century, has been more often referred to than read. Its true significance as one of a series of pamphlets which Knox wrote in 1558 on the theme of rebellion is therefore easily overlooked. This new edition of his writings includes not only The First Blast, but the three other tracts of 1558 -The Letter to the Regent of Scotland, The Appellation to the Scottish Nobility, and The Letter to the Commonalty of Scotland - in which Knox confronted the problem of resistance to tyranny. Related material, mostly drawn from Knox's own History of the Reformation in Scotland, illuminates the development of his views before 1558 and illustrates their application in the specific circumstances of the Scottish Reformation and the rule of Mary Queen of Scots. This edition thus brings together for the first time all of Knox's most important writings on rebellion.

Aquinas: Political Writings
  • Thomas Aquinas
  • Edited and translated by R. W. Dyson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    24 October 2002
  • Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) is a massive figure in the history of western thought and of the Catholic church. In this major addition to the Cambridge Texts series Robert Dyson (whose modern rendition of Augustine's City of God has already been widely acclaimed) has chosen texts by Aquinas that show his development of a Christian version of the philosophy of Aristotle, its contrast with the Augustinian thought that had coloured so much political thinking in the previous eight centuries, and St Thomas's views as to the purpose of government, constitutions, and the relations between secular and ecclesiastical power. Property, slavery, and usury are fully covered, as are St Thomas's celebrated and influential writings on law. The translations are extremely accessible and the whole is supported by all of the usual series features designed to assist the student reader, including brief biographies, notes for further reading and a concise critical introduction.

The Early Political Writings of the German Romantics
  • Edited by Frederick C. Beiser
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    14 March 1996
  • The Early Political Writings of the German Romantics contains all the essential political writings of Friedrich Schlegel, Schleiermacher and Novalis during the formative period of romantic thought (1797 to 1803). While the political thought of the German romantics has been generally recognised as important, it has been little studied, and most of the texts have been until now unavailable in English. The early romantics had an ambition still relevant to contemporary political thought: how to find a middle path between conservatism and liberalism, between an ethic of community and the freedom of the individual. Frederick C. Beiser's edition comprises all kinds of texts relevant for understanding the political ideas of the early romantic circles in Berlin and Jena - essays, lectures, aphorisms, chapters from books, and jottings from notebooks. All have been translated anew, many for the first time.

Cicero: On the Commonwealth and On the Laws
  • Marcus Tullius Cicero
  • Edited and translated by James E. G. Zetzel
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    09 December 1999
  • Cicero's On the Commonwealth and On the Laws were his first and most substantial attempt to adapt Greek theories of political life to the circumstances of the Roman Republic. They represent Cicero's vision of an ideal society, and remain his most important works of political philosophy. On the Commonwealth survives only in part, and On the Laws was never completed. The present volume offers a scholarly reconstruction of the fragments of On the Commonwealth and a masterly translation of both dialogues, prepared by James E. G. Zetzel, Professor of Classics at Columbia University. The texts are supported by a concise introduction, notes, synopsis, biographical notes and bibliography, all designed to assist students in politics, philosophy, ancient history, law and classics.

Beccaria: 'On Crimes and Punishments' and Other Writings
  • Cesare Beccaria
  • Edited by Richard Bellamy
  • Translated by Richard Davies
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    13 April 1995
  • This edition of Beccaria's On Crimes and Punishments and other writings presents an interpretation of his thought. Drawing on Italian scholarship, Richard Bellamy shows how Beccaria wove together the various political languages of the Enlightenment into a novel synthesis, and argues that his political philosophy, often regarded as no more than a precursor of Bentham's, combines republican, contractarian, romantic and liberal as well as utilitarian themes. The result is a complex theory of punishment that derives from a sophisticated analysis of the role of the state and the nature of human motivation in commercial society. The translation used in this edition is based on the fifth Italian edition, and provides English-speaking readers with Beccaria's own order of his text for the first time. A number of pieces from his writings on political economy and the history of civilisation which were not previously available in English are also included.

The Radical Reformation
  • Edited by Michael G. Baylor
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    25 October 1991
  • This 1991 book is a collection of writings by early Reformation radicals which illustrates both the diversity and the areas of agreement in their political thinking. The texts are drawn from the period 1521–7, centring on the German Peasants' War of 1524–6. The thinkers represented - Muntzer, Karlstadt, Grebel, Hut, Denck, and others - differed on important theological issues, yet all rejected the magistral reformation as serving the interests of society's elites. They advocated a strategy of Reformation from below, a sweeping transformation of society to the benefit of the lay commoner and the local community. With the start of the Peasants' War, radicals divided over the issue of the legitimacy of force. This division shaped the ways in which they confronted the failure of the Peasants' War and the alternate strategies for survival developed in its aftermath. Appended to the texts are a number of political programmes of the Peasants' War. These documents illustrate ways in which the radicals contributed to the uprising, and how the war itself led to greater clarity in the political theory of the radical Reformation.

Locke: Two Treatises of Government
  • John Locke
  • Edited by Peter Laslett
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    28 October 1988
  • This is the revised version of Peter Laslett's acclaimed edition of Two Treatises of Government, which is widely recognised as one of the classic pieces of recent scholarship in the history of ideas, read and used by students of political theory throughout the world. This 1988 edition revises Dr Laslett's second edition (1970) and includes an updated bibliography, a guide to further reading and a fully reset and revised introduction which surveys advances in Locke scholarship since publication of the second edition. In the introduction, Dr Laslett shows that the Two Treatises were not a rationalisation of the events of 1688 but rather a call for a revolution yet to come.

Fichte: Addresses to the German Nation
  • Edited by Gregory Moore
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    08 January 2009
  • This is the first translation of Fichte's addresses to the German nation for almost 100 years. The series of 14 speeches, delivered whilst Berlin was under French occupation after Prussia's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Jena in 1806, is widely regarded as a founding document of German nationalism, celebrated and reviled in equal measure. Fichte's account of the distinctiveness of the German people and his belief in the native superiority of its culture helped to shape German national identity throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. With an extensive introduction that puts Fichte's argument in its intellectual and historical context, this edition brings an important and seminal work to a modern readership. All of the usual series features are provided, including notes for further reading, chronology, and brief biographies of key individuals.

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