Published : 2023-03-31

Sixteenth Century Republican Theory of Liberty

Abstract

This article discusses the republican concept of freedom presented in the Polish and not only Polish republican theory of the sixteenth century. The starting point for the discussion is the thesis that the category of freedom in republican theory is closely related to reflection and findings regarding the essence and purpose of the political community referred to in the Roman tradition as civitas libera. Freedom is a derivative of a well-ordered, free political order in which law and virtue play a key role. Analysing the idea of republican liberty through the prism of two contexts: the classical republican tradition and its findings and the socio-political order of Poland-Lithuania it is argued that liberty is closely connected with other key categories of the republican theory, such as res publica, justice, law, virtue, mixed government and citizenship expressed in the ideal vita activa, and only in connection with them is it possible to understand freedom and its conditions. The republican theory of the sixteenth century brings also a unique insight about freedom as non-domination which has been widely discussed by Quentin Skinner and others in recent decades.

Keywords:

freedom, res publica, republican tradition, virtue, citizenship



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Roczniki Filozoficzne · ISSN 0035-7685 | eISSN 2450-002X
© Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II


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