Adam... “The Father of All Flesh”. An intellectual history of Sir Robert Filmer (1588-1653) and his works in seventeenth-century European political thought

Abstract

This thesis is divided in seven chapters exploring the works of Sir Robert Filmer (1588-1653) in the context of seventeenth-century European culture. It addresses a series of important questions regarding his oeuvre that have been hitherto ignored or, at best, left unanswered. Thus, the project attempts to provide a response to the following points: how has Filmer been read since the seventeenth century right up to modern historiography? Has his thought been mainly interpreted in a caricatured way? Secondly, who was the ‘real biographical’ Sir Robert Filmer? Thirdly, what do we know about the much commented upon but scarcely studied Patriarcha, namely about the document itself? When was it conceived and in connection with what milieu of publications? Did it respond to a particular target and, if so, what was the offending text or political language in question? What elements urged Sir Robert to compose his writing? Moreover, to what extent were Filmer’s ideas compatible with those of his contemporaries? Did he shape his principles in conjunction to the discourses of other authors? Did his doctrines of absolute monarchical power exert any influence or, at least, can it be said that he had some theoretical heirs in the eighteenth century? Finally, did Sir Robert put pen to paper exclusively to discuss political issues or did he formulate concepts and ideas on other relevant subjects debated within the republic of letters?