Tyranny from Ancient Greece to Renaissance France
This Palgrave Pivot examines how prominent thinkers throughout history, from ancient Greece to sixteenth-century France, have perceived tyrants and tyranny. Ancient philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle were the first to build a vocabulary for tyrants
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Orest Ranum
Tyranny from Ancient Greece to Renaissance France
Orest Ranum
Tyranny from Ancient Greece to Renaissance France
Orest Ranum Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-43184-6 ISBN 978-3-030-43185-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43185-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover pattern © Harvey Loake This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
For Patricia McGroder Ranum Muse, Inspired Critic, Typist, Friend, Wife
Preface
Many readers do not bother to read prefaces for various reasons, but the most typical reason is a lack of interest in the more personal professional experiences of the author. But interpreting texts is all about contexts, and the primary, primordial context of any writing is the author. What are some of my major experiences as a close reader of political thought? As an undergraduate at Macalester College in 1952, I enrolled in Professor G. Theodore Mitau’s course on reading excerpts from almost all the major political treatises, from antiquity to the present. Such a body of texts may be referred to as a “canon,” because, as a constituted whole, the absence of one or another text or author may be immediately noticed. Readers who move from Bodin to Locke are breaking the canon when they omit Hobbes. Mitau’s course centered on the close reading of texts, and on commentary, or to be more accurate, on “learning to comment.” During my first year in graduate school at the University of Minnesota, I enrolled in Professor Mulford Q. Sibley’s course on the history of Western political thought. We read essentially the sa
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