Journal for Christian reflections in the context of social sciences and humanities

Caritas et veritas 2016, 6(2):242-258 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2016.047

A Typology of Good and Evil: An Analysis of the Work Education of a Christian Prince by Erasmus of Rotterdam

Ondřej Stulík
Západočeská univerzita v Plzni, Fakulta filozofická, Katedra politologie a mezinárodních vztahů, Univerzitní 8, 306 14 Plzeň

The paper deals with the political philosophy of Erasmus of Rotterdam in his work Education of a Christian Prince and focuses on the relationship of the concepts of 'goodness', 'wisdom' and 'power' with respect to the rulership of a king in the milieu of a monarchy as a system of government. The paper aims to present a good rulership as a type of a political system and the role of the king as an agent who has political power at his disposal with respect to the moral good as a principle. The methods employed were framing and content analysis. The main finding is the appeal for the king's responsibility for service rendered to his subjects, whereby Erasmus creates the ethical content of the legitimacy of ruling before God (by means of power exercised for the good of all with the aim of maintaining social stability). Erasmus's legacy for political philosophy is perennial, because, due to the mutual interdependence of goodness, wisdom and power, legitimacy is not flattened out into a visible, neutral, bureaucratic exercise of power.

Keywords: Erasmus of Rotterdam, king, legitimacy, monarchy, the moral good, wisdom, responsibility, political power

Published: September 30, 2016  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Stulík, O. (2016). A Typology of Good and Evil: An Analysis of the Work Education of a Christian Prince by Erasmus of Rotterdam. Caritas et veritas, 6(2), 242-258. doi: 10.32725/cetv.2016.047
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article
    Czech version

    References

    1. Alan RYAN, On Politics, London: Penguin Books, 2012.
    2. Fritz CASPARI, Erasmus on the Social Functions of Christian Humanism, Journal of the History of Ideas 1/1947. Go to original source...
    3. Erasmus ROTTERDAMSKÝ, O svobodné vůli, Praha: OIKOYMENH, 2006.
    4. Erasmus ROTTERDAMSKÝ, Chvála bláznivosti, Olomouc: Aurora, 1995.
    5. Erasmus ROTTERDAMSKÝ, Důvěrné hovory, Praha: Votobia, 1999.
    6. Erasmus ROTTERDAMSKÝ, O výchově křes»anského vladaře, Praha: Občanský institut, 2009.
    7. Daniel MENAGER, Erasmus, the Intellectuals, and the Reuchlin Affair, in: Biblical Humanism and Scholasticism in the Age of Erasmus, ed. Erika RUMMEL, Leiden - Boston: Brill, 2008, s. 39-54. Go to original source...
    8. Richard POPKIN, The History of Scepticism. From Erasmus to Spinoza, Berkeley - Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1979. Go to original source...
    9. Max RICHTER, Desiderius Erasmus und seine Stellung zu Luther auf Grund ihrer Schriften, Paderborn: Salfwasser-Verlag, 2012.
    10. Robert STUPPERICH, Erasmus von Rotterdam und seine Welt, Berlin a New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1977. Go to original source...
    11. Peter DUNGEN, Erasmus: The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace, Jeail 2/2009, s. 409-431. Go to original source...
    12. Stefan ZWEIG, Erasmus of Rotterdam, New York: Viking Press, 1964.
    13. Christine Christ-von WEDEL, Erasmus of Rotterdam: Advocate of a New Christianity, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013. Go to original source...
    14. Johan HUIZINGA, Erasmus, Praha: OIKOYMENH, 2014.
    15. Timothy HAGLUND, Was Erasmus's Christian Politics Too Uncompromising?, Expositions 1/2014.
    16. Quentin SKINNER, Machiavelli, Praha: Argo, 1995.
    17. Niccolò MACHIAVELLI, Vladař, Praha: Kma, 2007.
    18. Thomas MORE, Utopie, Praha: Mladá fronta, 1978.
    19. George LAKOFF, Don't Think Of An Elephant!, White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004.
    20. Hsiu-Fang HSIEH - Sarah E. SHANNON, Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis, Qualitative Health Research 9/2005, s. 1277-1288. Go to original source...
    21. Charles MONTESQUIEU, O duchu zákonů, Praha: Knihkupectví a nakladatelství V. Linhart, 1947.
    22. © Daniel HARPER, King (on-line), dostupné na: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=king, citováno dne 9. 8. 2016.
    23. ARISTOTELÉS, Politika, Praha: Rezek, 1998.
    24. Petr FIALA - Klaus SCHUBERT, Moderní analýza politiky, Praha: Barrister a Principal, 2000.
    25. Christopher PIERSON, The Modern State, London - New York: Routledge, 2004. Go to original source...
    26. Max WEBER, Metodologie, sociologie a politika, Praha: OIKOYMENH, 2009.
    27. Lance W. BENNET, The Personalization of Politics Political Identity, Social Media, and Changing Patterns of Participation, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2012, s. 20-39. Go to original source...
    28. George LAKOFF - Mark JOHNSON, Metafory, kterými ľijeme, Brno: Host, 2002.
    29. Robert DAHL, The Concept of Power, Behavioral Science 3/1957, s. 202-203.
    30. Isaiah BERLIN, Dva pojmy svobody, in: Současná politická filosofie, ed. János KIS, Praha: OIKOYMENH, 1997, s. 59-62.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content