Rethinking the Foundations of Modern Political Thought.pdf

This page intentionally left blank

Rethinking the Foundations of Modern Political Thought

Quentin Skinner’s classic study of The Foundations of Modern Political

Thought was published by Cambridge in 1978. This was the ﬁrst of a series

of outstanding publications that have changed forever the way the history of

political thought is taught and practised. Rethinking the Foundations of Mod-

ern Political Thought looks afresh at the impact of the original work, asks

why it still matters and considers a number of signiﬁcant agendas that it still

inspires. A distinguished international team of contributors has been assem-

bled, including many of the leading intellectual historians writing today, and

the result is an unusually powerful and cohesive contribution to the history

of ideas, of interest to large numbers of students of early modern history and

political thought. In conclusion, Quentin Skinner replies to each chapter and

presents his own thoughts on the latest trends and the future direction of the

history of political thought.

annabel brett is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of

Cambridge and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. Her previous publica-

tions include Liberty, Right and Nature: Individual Rights in Later Scholastic

Thought (Cambridge, 1997).

james tully is the Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Law,

Indigenous Governance and Philosophy at the University of Victoria. His pre-

vious publications include An Approach to Political Philosophy (Cambridge,

1993) and Strange Multiplicity (Cambridge, 1995).

holly hamilton-bleakley earned a BA in Economics from Welles-

ley College, and an MPhil and PhD in intellectual history and political thought

from the University of Cambridge. She has published several articles on late

medieval moral and political philosophy, and is currently working on a mono-

graph on medieval and early modern conceptions of moral science.

Rethinking the Foundations of

Modern Political Thought

Edited by

Annabel Brett and James Tully with

Holly Hamilton-Bleakley