Andrea Catanzaro is Assistant Professor of History of Political Thought in the Department of Political Science of the University of Genoa. He teaches History of Political Thought in the Political Sciences Catanzaro | Lagi Catanzaro Mediterranean Area, History of Public Opinion and, within the course Wars, Conflicts and Construction of Peace, the module Peace and War in the History of Political Thought. He is member of the editorial board of the journal “Il Pensiero politico”. Sara Lagi is Assistant Professor of History of Political Thought (University of Turin). She graduated edited by in History at the University of Florence and obtained her PhD in History of Modern and Contemporary Political Thought at the University of Perugia. She is member of the editorial Andrea Catanzaro board of the journal “Il Pensiero politico”. Sara Lagi Monisms and Pluralisms in the History of Political Thought Political of the History in and Pluralisms Monisms The clash between monism and pluralism does exist. It has allowed the emergence of pivotal political theories during the centuries. It has inspired the construction of political models and theories. In our work we analyzed the term and the concept of monism and pluralism as having an historical dimension, changing over centuries, differently interpreted by the authors and ideologies that we have taken into account. In this sense, we investigated the terms and the concepts of monism and pluralism from the perspective of the history of political thought. That is the reason why we chose to talk about monisms and pluralisms. Through this particular viewpoint we analyzed how over centuries monisms and pluralisms have been used as conceptual frameworks, theories, ideologies to reflect on long-term issues such as the nature of political power, the problem of political legitimacy, the relationship between the rulers and the ruled, the meaning of freedom and tolerance, the sense of living together within contexts characterized by diversity. In other terms, we chose to reflect on monism and pluralism not as theoretical entities but as monisms and pluralisms inside history. In doing so, we tried to show how monisms and pluralisms in the history of political thought have posed and continue to pose a series of issues and problems concerning all of us and far from being mere erudition. Monisms and Pluralisms euro 18,00 in the History ISBN 978-88-99647-11-7 of Political Thought POLITICAL SCIENCES Edited by Andrea Catanzaro Sara Lagi Monisms and Pluralisms in the History of Political Thought edizioni epoké ISBN 978-88-99647-11-7 ©2016 Edizioni Epoké First edition: 2016 Edizioni Epoké. Via N. Bixio, 5 15067, Novi Ligure (AL) www.edizioniepoke.it [email protected] Graphic project and layout: Simone Tedeschi and Edoardo Traverso Cover picture: «Paesaggio giallo», oil on board by Alberto Boschi (2011) in Alberto Boschi, Edizioni Epoké (2015), Novi Ligure I edition Printed in May 2016 Pressup s.r.l., Rome All Rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Sara Lagi wrote the essay Sir Isaiah Berlin: against Monism (1953-1958) and the Afterword entitled Monisms and Pluralisms in the History of Political Thought: some (not conclusive) remarks. She also edited the essays of Andrea Catanzaro, Iolanda Richichi, Nicoletta Stradaioli, Federica Falchi, Stefano Pa- rodi and Pejman Abdolmohammadi. Andrea Catanzaro wrote the essay The Achaeans of Homer and those of Hobbes: from a pluralistic monism to absolutism and the Preface entitled Why monisms and pluralisms? Reasons and purposes of a path. He also edited the essays of Sara Lagi, Carlo Morganti, Carlotta Stegagno, Davide Suin, Giusep- pe Sciara and the Bibliography. CONTENTS PREFACE CHAPTER FOUR Why monisms and pluralisms? Benjamin Constant the “fox” Reasons and purposes and the ideal of freedom of a path p. 11 between politics, history Andrea Catanzaro and religion p. 57 Giuseppe Sciara CHAPTER ONE The Achaeans of Homer CHAPTER FIVE and those of Hobbes: Frances Wright: from a pluralistic monism Liberty as a founding principle to absolutism p. 17 of Republican America p. 69 Andrea Catanzaro Federica Falchi 5.1 The Republican spirit p. 73 CHAPTER TWO 5.2 The Declaration of Independence Nicolas Antoine Boulanger’s portrait and the Constitution p. 76 of “irrational monism” 5.3 The birth of in postdiluvian humanity p. 29 the Constitution p. 79 Iolanda Richichi 5.4 Broad consensus p. 80 5.5 Conclusion p. 82 CHAPTER THREE Religious pluralism CHAPTER SIX and the International community: Plurality and Decision. Alberico Gentili’s contribution p. 39 State and Society Davide Suin in Romano Guardini p. 85 Carlo Morganti 8 MONISMS AND PLURALISM IN THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER ELEVEN Monism and Pluralism: Sir Isaiah Berlin: Eric Voegelin’s contribution p. 95 against Monism (1953-1958) p. 139 Nicoletta Stradaioli Sara Lagi 7.1 A new science of politics 11.1 Introducing the person and a new philosophy of history p. 96 and his work p. 139 7.2 The theory 11.2 Berlin and the importance of of representation p. 99 thinking like a “fox”... p. 142 11.3 Two concepts of Liberty: CHAPTER EIGHT against monism p. 147 Beyond Politics: Organizational Pluralism and Technocratic Monism CHAPTER TWELVE in the Functionalist Proposal Monisms and Pluralisms of David Mitrany p. 105 in the History of Political Thought: Stefano Parodi some (not conclusive) remarks p. 155 CHAPTER NINE Sara Lagi Polytheism vs. Monotheism: some ideas regarding BIBLIOGRAPHY the pastoral form of power p. 119 p. 163 Pejman Abdolmohammadi INDEX CHAPTER TEN p. 185 Political and religious monism in Michel ‘Aflaq’s THE EDITORS political thought p. 127 p. 193 Carlotta Stegagno 10.1 The foundation THE AUTHORS of the Ba’th Party p. 127 p. 195 10.2 The ideology of Michel ‘Aflaq p. 130 10.3 The monist content of Michel ‘Aflaq’s political thought p. 132 10.4 Conclusions p. 136 Preface WHY MONISMS AND PLURALISMS? REASONS AND PURPOSES OF A PATH Andrea Catanzaro “That depends, a good deal, on where you want to get to” (L. Carroll) The backbone of this work lies in the dichotomy between monism and plu- ralism. That being stated, in order to produce some curiosity and appeal, it would have been better to write “in the misleading dichotomy”, though just for a while. Due to this, some preliminary remarks are needed: the adjective misleading is here clearly used as a part of a bait-and-switch strategy and the consequent choice of opening with such a provocative and apparently unre- asonable assertion deserves to be carefully delimited and explained. How is it possible to define misleading such a crucial distinction from the perspective of political thought? How can this choice, clearly at odds with the title of the book, not sound as a sort of nonsense? Both questions are correct. The clash between monism and pluralism should not be considered as misleading: it does exist, it deals with something real, it has allowed the emergence of pivotal political theories during the centuries. It has imbued, marked and shaped political debate, has contributed to the 12 MONISMS AND PLURALISMS IN THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT construction of political models, societies and identities, has inspired authors, thinkers and philosophers. Above all, it has instilled actions with consequences – sometimes dramatic consequences – on human beings. So, why might it be deemed as misleading? There is a main reason that can partially justify this claim that is – and re- mains – clearly provocative; in order to appreciate it, however, a lexical remark is needed. The Oxford English Dictionary writes about monism: “any theory or system of thought or belief, that assumes a single ultimate principle, being, force, etc., rather than more than one”1. Regarding pluralism, we read: “any theory or system of thought which recognizes more than one irreducible basic principle”2. If the dichotomy is clear-cut from a linguistic perspective, from a political one it is not as evident: monism and pluralism as previously defined appear more similar to empty boxes than to something able to influence the real lives of people and, accordingly, to be significant from a political-historical perspective. So, their dichotomy might be regarded as misleading if they are taken into account as mere categories – the monism or the pluralism as theoretical entities – unlinked to history and, particularly, to the History of Political Thought. It might not be, instead, if we consider them – as they really are – as something different, that is, a sort of simplifying label wisely created and used in order to summarise and classify the more multifaceted and many-si- ded applied natures of those monisms and pluralisms that have appeared over the centuries in the course of history. That said, the adjective misleading and its provocative role can be put aside and forgotten; what remains, the idea of the existence of historically framed monisms and pluralisms, is instead the load-bearing axis of this work. Such a peculiar reading implies the movement from the theoretical dimension and the entrance into the historical one, where the ideas of monism and pluralism become worth analysing from a political thought perspective because of their consequences on people’s lives. This was the starting point from which this work was born, the idea taken as a cornerstone by all the scholars involved in the project. If it is true that each title entails – less or more evidently – a question, the title we chose for this project perfectly fits this definition. The birth of a research-group to work on monisms and pluralisms through a perspective of 1 Cf.