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Algernon Sidney Between Modern Natural Rights and Machiavellian Republicanism

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Algernon Sidney Between Modern Natural Rights and Machiavellian Republicanism Algernon Sidney between Modern Natural Rights and Machiavellian Republicanism Algernon Sidney between Modern Natural Rights and Machiavellian Republicanism By Luís Falcão Translation by Ana Nicolino Algernon Sidney between Modern Natural Rights and Machiavellian Republicanism By Luís Falcão This book first published 2020 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2020 by Luís Falcão All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-5800-2 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-5800-7 This publication is the translation of the first edition, published in Portuguese (FALCÃO, Luís. Algeron Sidney: um pensador republicano do século XVII. Niterói: EdUFF, 2019) It is not necessary to say any thing concerning the person of the author. —John Toland, Preface to the Discourses Concerning Government, London, 1698 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................... ix Abbreviations and Clarification on the Main Works Used ...................... xiii Preface ...................................................................................................... xv Presentation ............................................................................................. xix General Introduction ................................................................................... 1 Part I: Human Nature, Natural Law, and Contractualism Introduction .............................................................................................. 24 Human Nature and State of Nature ........................................................... 31 The knowledge of politics and of men Men and animals: reason and history State of nature Equality and inequality in state of nature Law of Nature and Natural Right ............................................................. 52 Law of Nature as Freedom and as Reason Unity of the Laws of Nature From Natural Law to Positive Law Hierarchy of Rights The Contract. ............................................................................................ 74 The Institution of Society: the First Contract Contractual Progression: Demography, Freedom, Good, and Action Equality and Inequality in Society: Virtues, Property, and Representation Origin of Government: the Second Contract viii Table of Contents Part II: The Terms of Machiavellian Republicanism Introduction ............................................................................................ 104 Moral Virtue ........................................................................................... 122 Rule of Law The Distribution of Virtues: Aristotle The Content of Virtue: Cicero Virtue, Vice, and Fortune: Machiavelli The Government ..................................................................................... 158 Cycles of Government Reduction to Principles The Monarchies Democracy, Aristocracy, and the Extremes Mixed Government Conflict and Expansion .......................................................................... 193 Freedom and Virtue Matter, Tumult, and Harmony Sedition, Tumult, and War Expansion Conclusion .............................................................................................. 222 References .............................................................................................. 225 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my very great appreciation to my colleagues and professors from my graduation, master's and doctorate, with whom I had the privilege of holding several debates on themes pertinent to this work and so many others that made me mature professionally. Special thanks to my advisor, Professor Marcelo Jasmin. At no point in this research, during my doctorate, and even during my masters, as a professor, did he fail to make every effort to carry out this work. For his committed conduct and his willingness to solve academic formalities, I am especially grateful for all the conversations, debates, and guidelines that, despite the importance of the content, exceeded the themes contained in this study and reached the various fields of the Human Sciences. I thank him for his dedication and kindness in these years of conviviality that are only the beginning of our relationship, which I can already say has become a friendship. I thank the members of the examining board for the defense of the thesis project, professors César Guimarães, from IESP, and Claudio de Farias Augusto, from UFF, for the comments and suggestions on that occasion. To Claudio, I also owe much more than thanks, a great friendship that has been going on for more than ten years, since I was his student in the first semester of my undergraduate in Social Sciences at UFF. For all the effort and dedication, I thank him. I am deeply grateful to the members of the examining board of the doctoral thesis, which founded this book. Once again, to César Guimarães himself, now as chairman of the board, for all the professionalism, attention, and insight of his always constructive comments, particularly on the relation between republicanism and democracy, the revolutionary perspective of both traditions regarding their hatred for tyrannies, which can be very clearly seen in Sidney's work. I am grateful to Professor Bernardo Ferreira, from UERJ, not only for the comments on the content, particularly about the “program” and the “language” of republicanism, but also for the indications of thematic organization, which have been partly incorporated here. To Professor Eunice Ostrensky, from USP, I am thankful for the x Acknowledgements critical reading about the different ways of addressing authors, traditions, and theories, especially about the issue of political conflict among Republicans. But most of all, I thank her for the kindness and dedication with which she treated the work. I am also thankful to Professor Heloísa Starling, from UFMG, for drawing my attention to the republican theories of the forms of government, from the old variants of politeia and res publica to the contemporary forms in modern states, with the due highlight to the importance of Machiavelli. I also thank Professor Heloísa for the kindness and generosity of her attention. To the members of the board, thank you very much, of course, without blaming them for the mistakes. I thank Professor Renato Lessa, my master's adviser at the recently founded IESP. To Professor Newton Bignotto, from UFMG, besides being a member of my dissertation defense board, I also thank him for the dialogue about Machiavelli and Machiavellism in recent years. I thank Professor Maria das Graças de Moraes Augusto, from UFRJ, for all the help, especially regarding the reading of ancient authors by the moderns. But I thank her above all for the great encouragement regarding research and studies in all the years of our friendship. I owe a special thanks to Professor Paulo Butti de Lima from the Università degli Studi di Bari, with whom I have had, and continue to have, the privilege of constant dialogue on many themes of classical and modern political theory. I have the honor of sharing with him the course of my work and questions. Professor Paulo Butti Lima received me in Italy, not only in the opportunities in which we could meet, but also always indicating me congresses and activities on the various fields of Political Science. A profound supporter of my research since my undergraduate, when we first met in person at a congress in Rio de Janeiro, Professor Butti de Lima was the first person responsible for opening the door to my period of research in Italy, initially as an doctoral adviser and then, at his suggestion, for introducing me to Professor Marco Geuna, from the Università degli Studi di Milano, who readily accepted the orientation. My feeling towards Professor Marco Geuna is also of the highest regard. From the first moments of our contact, even before my stay in Italy, he was willing to gradually discuss with me aspects of republicanism, Machiavellism, and very specific points of this work. Between bibliographical indications, availability of texts, and invitations to congresses and seminars in many Italian cities, Professor Geuna has always been attentive to my research and my stay in Turin and has not stopped being so after my return to Brazil. More than that, we have developed a professional relationship of which I Algernon Sidney between Modern Natural Rights and Machiavellian xi Republicanism am very proud. I must also say that he offered me several letters of acceptance so that I had access to the Italian libraries, without which I would not have been able to carry out this study. Still about my stay in Italy, I must thank the Fondazione Luigi Firpo, the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, and the Centro di Studi Piero Gobetti for opening the doors to my studies, a survey of bibliographical material, and the numerous times that the librarians very kindly allowed me to stay after hours in order to finish the day's work. At those foundations, I attended weekly conferences on “History of Political Doctrines”, I consulted publications from the 16th to the 19th centuries, I had contact with other students and researchers, I was presented
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