European University Institute Library

Time, crisis and Western political thought, 1500-1660s, Grigol Gegelia

eng

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

Includes bibliographical references (pages 310-329)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--European University Institute (HEC), 2019.

no index present

non fiction

Time, crisis and Western political thought, 1500-1660s

theses

1109828257

Defence date: 24 June 2019

Grigol Gegelia

EUI PhD thesesEUI theses