Bibliographical Note
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Sources
Outline of Chapters
Chapter I. Marsilius’ Life and Works
Chapter II. Major Intellectual Influences on Marsilius
Albertino Mussato and Paduan Politics
Peter of Abano and Late Medieval Natural Philosophy and Medicine
Averroes Goes West: John of Jandun
Muslim and Jewish Influences
Chapter III. Marsilius’ Political Theory
Marsilius and Aristotelian Teleology
The Origins of Social Life
Rhetoric and the Genesis of Civil Life
The Purpose of the Political Community
The Peace and Tranquility of the Political Community
The Unity of the Political Community
The Organization of the Political Community
Marsilius’ Classification of Human Acts
Marsilius and Aristotle
Marsilius and Aquinas
Marsilius and Maimonides
Plato Transformed, Avicennian Echoes, and the Ideal Social Organization
The ‘Circle of Justice’ and Functional Specialization
The Idea of the Mean and the Parts of the Political Community
The Emergence of Religion and the Civic Function of the Sacerdotal Part
Marsilius’ Notion of Citizenship
Chapter IV. Marsilius’ Legal Theory
The Definition of the Law
Giants on the Shoulders of Dwarfs: Legislation and a Well-ordered Political Community
Cyclops with Many Eyes: Laws and Collective Prudence
The legislator humanus
The legislator primus
The primus legislator and Sovereignty
Medieval Echoes
Beyond Aristotle
Chapter V. Marsilius’ Theory of Government
The Taxonomy of Constitutions
The Five Modes of Establishing Monarchy
The Appointment of the Government
The Political Community as a Living Organism
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index of Subjects
Index of Places and Proper Names
