Liberty Before Liberalism (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781107689534)

This extended essay by one of the world's leading historians seeks, in its first part, to excavate, and to vindicate, the neo-Roman theory of free citizens and free states as it developed in early-modern Britain. This analysis leads on to a powerful defence of the nature, purposes and goals of intellectual history and the history of ideas. As Quentin Skinner says, 'the intellectual historian can help us to appreciate how far the values embodied in our present way of life, and our present ways of thinking about those values, reflect a series of choices made at different times between different possible worlds'. This essay provides one of the most substantial statements yet made about the importance, relevance and potential excitement of this form of historical enquiry. Liberty before Liberalism is based on Quentin Skinner's Inaugural Lecture as Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, delivered in 1997.

Author: Quentin Skinner
ISBN-10: 1107689538
ISBN-13: 9781107689534
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/26/2012
Pages: 152
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.30d