WILLIAM EDEN AND LENIENCY IN PUNISHMENT
Anthony J. Draper, Bentham Project, University College London, Gower Street,
London, WC1E 6BT. Email: a.draper@ucl.ac.uk
The distinctive role played by William Eden in the penal reform debate
of the late eighteenth century is examined and his emphasis on leniency
in the exercise of punishment is identified. Eden is found to have introduced
the notion of ‘public virtue’ into a rights theory paradigm and the implications
of this development are explored. Eden’s contribution to English penal
theory is illustrated by a comparison of his position with those of other
leading theorists of the period, and the extent to which Eden’s ideas affected
English practices of punishment is assessed.
VOLUNTARISM AND CONCILIARISM IN THE WORK OF FRANCIS
OAKLEY
Constantin Fasolt , Dept. of History, The University of Chicago, 1126 East
59th Street, Chicago IL 60637, USA.
Email: icon@midway.uchicago.edu
Francis Oakley has devoted much of his scholarly effort to elaborating
three claims about the conciliar theory made early in the last century
by John Neville Figgis: that it was rooted in secular precedents (false,
as shown by Brian Tierney); that it exercised a lasting influence on early
modern European political thought (true); and that conciliar thinkers transformed
principles of medieval constitutionalism into political theory properly
speaking (also true). Thanks in large measure to Oakley’s work, and in
spite of whatever unanswered questions may remain, the ‘road from Constance
to 1688’ is now securely mapped across the landscape of early modern political
thought.
Voluntarism occupies a less prominent but more fundamental place in
Oakley’s writings, because it posed a challenge to the arguments with which
conciliar theorists aimed to establish a constitution for the church. They
met the challenge with the distinction between God’s absolute and ordinary,
or ordained, power. This distinction is fundamental to Oakley’s work in
a double sense: it clarifies a central issue in the history of European
thought; but it also helps to understand the point of his investigations
into that history. The point is not to trump papal absolutism with the
ace of conciliar supremacy, but to trump all forms of dogmatism by asserting
‘the necessity of admitting, and with full candor, the historicity, the
relativity, the reformability of all doctrinal pronouncements’.
SEARCHING FOR THE SOUL OF THE AMERICAN AMALGAM: A
REPLY TO PAUL CARRESE
Alan Gibson, St Ambrose University, 518 West Locust Street, Davenport,
IA 52803, USA. Email: agibson@saunix.sau.edu
Professor Carrese’s constructive and insightful critique of my article
‘Ancients, Moderns and Americans: The Republicanism-Liberalism Revisited’
raises four points of disagreement between us. These include, first, Carrese’s
contention that I have improperly ignored the influence of Montesquieu’s
political thought, Protestant Christianity, and classic common-law thinking
on the political thought of the American Founders; second, the question
of how far the Founders sought to develop the moral character of the citizenry
directly through constitutions and laws, especially acts designed to promote
religious belief; and third, Carrese’s argument that scholars should not
follow Rogers Smith in tracing out the role of illiberal ideologies in
the American Founding. Finally, in addition to disagreeing about these
substantive issues, Carrese and I also disagree about the methodological
question of how the study of the political thought of the American Founders
should be conducted. Let us consider each of these points in turn.
AN INTELLECTUAL FOUNDER OF THE THIRD REPUBLIC: THE
NEO-KANTIAN REPUBLICANISM OF JULES BARNI (1818–78)
Sudhir Hazareesingh, Balliol College, Oxford, OX1 3BJ. Email: sudhir.hazareesingh@balliol.ox.ac.uk
The Neo-Kantian political thought of Jules Barni illustrates the continuing
strength of idealist philosophical traditions in France during the second
half of the nineteenth century. Barni’s years as an exile in Geneva, when
he was an active militant in the cause of international peace, also highlight
the importance of exogenous influences on French republicanism in the era
of the Second Empire and early Third Republic. Finally, Barni’s political
writings underline that republican citizenship was not formulated simply
by celebrating the national myths of the Jacobin state, but also drew heavily
on the republican commitment to local (especially municipal) politics.
THE FIRST WAVE OF FEMINISM: WERE THE STOICS FEMINISTS?
Lisa Hill, Political Science Program, The Research School of Social Sciences,
Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. Email: lhill@coombs.anu.edu.au
The Hellenistic Schools of Epicureanism, Cynicism and Stoicism are considered
to constitute the first, albeit modest, wave of feminism. But the question:
‘Were the Stoics Feminists?’ has attracted little attention due to a paucity
of available evidence. What this paper attempts is a comprehensive treatment
of the subject. In particular it addresses two distinct claims that have
been made about the Stoic attitude to women. The first claim (advanced
by Sarah Pomeroy) challenges the view that the Stoics were thoroughgoing
feminists. The second (advanced by C.E. Manning) is that, given the Stoic
fixation on social duty, women’s relegation to the domestic sphere is a
consistent Stoic position. It is argued that Stoicism was fundamentally
committed to the emancipation of women even though many of its proponents
were inconsistent feminists. This inconsistency put them at odds with Stoicism’s
avowed mission to provide a critique of social convention and to promote
the ideals of the cosmopolis.
POLITICS SPUN OUT OF THEOLOGY AND PROPHECY: SIR HENRY
VANE ON THE SPIRITUAL ENVIRONMENT OF PUBLIC POWER
David Parnham, 39 Cawkwell Street, Malvern, VIC 3144, Australia.
Email: d.parnham@law.unimelb.edu. au
Sir Henry Vane the younger was highly critical of Oliver Cromwell’s ecclesiastical
policy. The article explores the idioms in which Vane conducted his attack
on Cromwell, and shows how Vane spun a conception of both the politics
of the present and the politics of the future out of various fibres of
religious discourse. Vane cultivated a theologically based doctrine of
liberty of conscience, and thus insisted that there were significant reasons
of a religious nature for limiting magisterial power. Thomas Hobbes and
Richard Baxter, among others, thought otherwise, and the article presents
Vane as a contributor to a robust mid-seventeenth-century debate.
THE RELATION BETWEEN THE NICOMACHEAN ETHICS AND
THE POLITICS REVISITED
Filimon Peonidis, Department of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
GR 54006, Greece. Email: peonidis@edlit.auth.gr
It is argued that from a parallel reading of the Nicomachean Ethics and
the Politics we can reconstruct a sketch of a systematic moral inquiry
consisting of the following basic tenets: (a) each citizen should be concerned
with the achievement of his own eudaimonia to the extent possible by cultivating
the necessary character traits, following the counsels of practical wisdom
and being engaged in the proper activities; (b) the pursuit of individual
eudaimonia promotes at the same time collective eudaimonia, that is the
good of the city; (c) the above relation can be conceived only by the supremely
virtuous politicians of (at least) the ideal city who undertake the obligation
to coordinate, uphold, enhance and secure — through various policies —
the parallel and consistent achievement of both individual and collective
good. This moral picture differs significantly from the one we extract
if we confine ourselves to the Nicomachean Ethics and appears to be in
line with our conception of a moral theory.
THE SECRET CHAIN: JUSTICE AND SELF-INTEREST IN MONTESQUIEU’S
PERSIAN LETTERS
Lucas A. Swaine, Gifford Research Fellow in Natural Theology, St Mary’s
College, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9JU. Email: las12@st-andrews.ac.uk
Montesquieu’s Persian Letters has long been thought to conceal a secret
chain uniting the various letters which comprise the work. An examination
of the historical context of the Persian Letters, the characters’ remarks
on justice and self- interest, and the important literary techniques that
Montesquieu employs, helps to bring the secret chain to light. The work’s
letters are written and sequenced to show how self-interest can overawe
justice, emphasizing the need for fair and reasonable third party involvement
in order to achieve justice in human affairs. Montesquieu calls upon readers
to serve as the final link in this chain, prompting the reader ultimately
to consolidate the Persian Letters’ treatment of politics, philosophy and
morality.
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