Reason and experience in Renaissance Italy /
Shaw, Christine(Italian Renaissance historian),author.
"When the men involved in the government of the states of Renaissance Italy explained the basis of the principles by which they argued that political life and the conduct of affairs were, or should be, shaped, "reason" and "experience" were what they most frequently cited. Sometimes they were cited separately, often together. When they were coupled together, they were treated as complementary to one another - as in the declaration in a Sienese decree of 1486 that: 'Reason shows and experience proves [La ragione demostra et la experientia prova]'. Reason, and ancient and modern examples, were what the Venetian Signoria told the Milanese ambassador in that year were the foundations of their thinking about relations with foreign powers. Reason and experience were never cited as contradicting one another. Experience provided examples to back up the conclusions of reason or, more often perhaps, provided the material on which reason could be put to work"--
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: Reason and experience -- Union, faction and political participation -- Sharing in office, sharing in power -- Supreme authority and executive power -- Public finances and private interests -- A well-ordered republic -- The legitimacy of princely rule -- Libertà and the community of Italian powers -- Practice and theory -- Conclusion: Republics and Signorie.
"When the men involved in the government of the states of Renaissance Italy explained the basis of the principles by which they argued that political life and the conduct of affairs were, or should be, shaped, "reason" and "experience" were what they most frequently cited. Sometimes they were cited separately, often together. When they were coupled together, they were treated as complementary to one another - as in the declaration in a Sienese decree of 1486 that: 'Reason shows and experience proves [La ragione demostra et la experientia prova]'. Reason, and ancient and modern examples, were what the Venetian Signoria told the Milanese ambassador in that year were the foundations of their thinking about relations with foreign powers. Reason and experience were never cited as contradicting one another. Experience provided examples to back up the conclusions of reason or, more often perhaps, provided the material on which reason could be put to work"--
Political culture
Political participation
Reason
Experience
Power (Social sciences)
City-states
Republicanism