What is it about?
This article examines the relationship between knowledge, political counsel and reason of state in Giovanni Botero (1544–1617). Botero is primarily known as the champion of Catholic reason of state, mainly on account of his treatise 'Ragion di stato'. I argue that Botero marks a watershed in the history of European political thought not because of his response to Machiavelli, but on account of his conscious and innovative integration of different field of knowledge into a new language of the state.
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Why is it important?
The article offers a fresh view of Giovanni Botero as an innovative and transformative thinker and influence on early modern political thought.
Perspectives
There is more to be done on Botero. The new critical edition by Blythe Alice Raviola will help a lot.
Harald Braun
University of Liverpool
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Knowledge and Counsel in Giovanni Botero’s Ragion di stato, Journal of Jesuit Studies, March 2017, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/22141332-00402007.
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