The Absolutist Roots of Modern Consent: A Study of the Humanist Political Philosophy of Jean Bodin

Despite having "discovered" modern sovereignty, and despite his profound influence on his own epoch, Jean Bodin is today a curiously neglected figure in the history of political philosophy. Indeed, an apparent imperviousness to his importance appears to exist, despite assertions from figures such as Eric Voegelin that "Aristotle is more frequently read than Bodin because of the prestige attached to his name, but whether his actual influence on the political science of our day is greater than Bodin's may well be doubted." How can this neglect be explained?This dissertation hypothesizes that one important reason for the lack of attention to Bodin lies in the difficulty of understanding the meaning of sovereignty itself, at least apart from mere rote formulas which assume the very political perspective that sovereignty creates. As such, the history of early modern political philosophy to the present tends to be cast in a narrative of the progressive democratization of authority and emergence of human rights, rather than as the story of the vicissitudes and tendencies of the unprecedented entity called the sovereign state. Meanwhile, typical treatments of Bodin in various histories of political philosophy, while minimally acknowledging his contribution of the idea of sovereignty, often proceed to dismiss Bodin as "contradictory" or lacking in philosophical coherence. The research in this work proceeds, not from Bodin's definition of sovereignty, but seeks instead, through an extensive textual analysis, to discover the manner in which Bodin's legal theory and natural philosophy relate to each other, forming a coherent and intelligible theoretical whole. It is concluded that, while maintaining a teleological natural view of man and the state, Bodin nonetheless severs political authority from its centuries-old basis in the natural law, revelation, and custom, in effect "positing" a source of political and legal legitimacy that refers to the contemporaneous will of man alone. It is further argued that this unprecedented step, which may be said to lie at the very core of modernity, finds its ultimate basis in a particular humanist view of reason and freedom. This view, it is maintained, posed the political problem for which sovereignty in turn provided the solution.Degree awarded: Ph.D. Politics. The Catholic University of Americ