Date: 2019
Type: Thesis
Time, crisis and western political thought, 1500-1660s
Florence : European University Institute, 2019, EUI, HEC, PhD Thesis
GEGELIA, Grigol, Time, crisis and western political thought, 1500-1660s, Florence : European University Institute, 2019, EUI, HEC, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/63493
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
This dissertation examines the evolution of temporal perceptions amid crises in Western Europe, in the period between 1500 an 1660s. Time captured the imagination of intellectuals, noblemen and commoners alike, constantly faced by instability and changeability. Importantly, times was perceived to be at once the dimension of one’s social existence and an agent of history of its own accord. Being such, time then also mattered politically. How did the temporal perceptions alter amid crises? What sort of reflection did temporal perceptions find in the political thought generated between 1500 and 1660s? This thesis represents a novel re-examination of Western political thought from the perspective of temporal discourses. Concentrating on the study of temporal discourses during crises, the work engages with a number of scholarly debates in early modern intellectual history and provides a new reading of the emergence of the theory of early modern sovereign state, as well as of the paradigm of state of exception. It is argued that the early modern theory of sovereignty was born as a result of the gradual radicalization of political thought precisely as the human intellect sought to respond to the exceptionality generated by time. With a focus on kairotic temporality and the moment of crisis at which decisive action is called for, this work suggests that the classical idea of dictatorship reemerged powerfully in the context of a kairotic perception of time. In so doing, it contributes to discussion about the appearance of a new ethics of statehood, and a new sort of constitutionalism, by tracking the evolution of a way of thinking about politics and time that translated into the endorsement of some form of absolutism.
Additional information:
Defence date: 24 June 2019; Examining Board:
Prof. Ann Thomson, European University Institute;
Prof. Luca Molà, European University Institute;
Prof. Maurizio Viroli, Princeton University;
Dr. Christopher Brooke, University of Cambridge
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/63493
Full-text via DOI: 10.2870/987755
Series/Number: EUI; HEC; PhD Thesis
Publisher: European University Institute
LC Subject Heading: Political science -- Europe -- Philosophy -- History; Political science -- Europe -- History -- 16th century; Political science -- Europe -- History -- 17th century; Civilization, Western -- History