Former Fellows

The planned study suggests that Milton's arguments against state censorship were not entirely new to the intellectual scene of pre-1640s Europe. Along this line, the study proposes to examine Milton's position in closer parallel to earlier sources, and hence to inject a dose of healthy scepticism into some overly liberalising approaches to the Areopagitica. As an optional appendix-to be published separately-the study will offer the first full annotated translation of Areopagitica in Bulgarian.

project outline

It has been claimed that a number of modern political theorists have found in Aristotle "anchors for an alternative or supplement to the set of political and ethical principles that undergirds the values of Western democracies" (John Wallach). Aristotelian ideas, however, have a long and complex career in the history of political thought. Ever since the "rediscovery" of his major works in thirteenth-century Europe, Aristotle served as a powerful instrument in the hands of intellectuals working in the realm of political theory. Most importantly, a number of medieval Aristotelians articulated theories which are particularly curious in the context of modern politics. To a historian of ideas thus it may be tempting to think about pre-modern Aristotelians and their modern counterparts, the "neo-Aristotelians," in comparative perspective. This research project takes on the need of such comparison with special emphasis on some of the leading intellectual figures of the late medieval period, on the one hand, and some criticisms against modern Aristotelians, on the other.

While addressing various issues with regard to the reception of Aristotle's political philosophy, the proposed study will suggest that pre-modern as well as modern Aristotelians fruitfully modified and adapted it to the challenges of two different theoretical contexts: (a) justifying monarchy by demonstrating that a political community could be best represented and therefore ruled by a single ruler, in the case of pre-modern Aristotelians; and (b) emphasising the need of virtue in politics as an amendment to modern liberal theories, in the case of neo-Aristotelians. On the other hand, the study will seek to determine the exact parameters in which such problematic uses of Aristotelian arguments diverted from Aristotle's authentic understanding of politics. Special attention will be paid to his conviction that virtuous monarchy was the best form of political rulership, which can be sharply contrasted to both Aristotelian traditions in question.