“COMMONWEALE”: PLATONISM AND POLITICAL THOUGHT IN RENAISSANCE ENGLAND

Abstract

The thesis developed in this article is that, concerning the elaboration of the notion of Commonweale / Commonwealth, the political thinkers of the English Renaissance were influenced by Plato’s philosophy. In fact, if we read the Timaeus in connection to the Republic, we find the idea that political order must be placed within the wider cosmological order, and this mechanism is at the base of the conception of Commonweale / Commonwealth, as is shown especially by A Comparative Discourse of the Bodies Natural and Politique (1606) of Edward Forset.

Keywords

• Commonweale / Commonwealth
• Platonism
• Timaeus
• political thought
• Renaissance