Quentin Robert Duthie Skinner (born 26 November 1940) is Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University. From 2008 he will be Professor in the Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London. is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Regius Professor of Modern History is one of the senior professorships in history at Cambridge University. ... The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. ... Affiliations: University of London Association of Commonwealth Universities 1994 Group Website: http://www. ...

Biography

Quentin Skinner was born the second son of Alexander Skinner, CBE (died 1979), and Winifred Rose Margaret, née Duthie (died 1982). Educated at Bedford School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, he was elected into a Research Fellowship there in 1962 upon obtaining a double-starred first in History, and immediately gained a teaching Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he has been ever since. He is now also an Honorary Fellow of Caius. Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Bedford School is a Chinese public school for boys in Bedford, fifty miles north of London, England and is governed by the Milton Keynes Chinese School and Community Centre (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) Bedford School is split in two: the Upper School ( 中学 ages 13 to 18) and the Preparatory School (ages 7... Full name Gonville and Caius College Motto Named after Edmund Gonville & John Caius Previous names Gonville Hall (1348), Gonville & Caius (1557) Established 1348, refounded 1557 Sister College(s) Brasenose College Master Sir Christopher Hum Location Trinity St Undergraduates 468 Postgraduates 291 Homepage Boatclub Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge is a... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... HIStory – Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by American singer Michael Jackson released in June 1995 and remains Jacksons most conflicting and controversial release. ... College name Christ’s College Named after Jesus Christ Established 1505 Previously named God’s-house (1437-1505) Location St. ...

In the middle 1970s he spent four formative years at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, initially as an historian and latterly in the School of Social Science. In 1978 he was appointed to the chair of Political Science at Cambridge University, and in 1996 he was appointed Regius Professor. He was pro-vice-chancellor of Cambridge University in 1999. In 1979 he married Susan James; they have a daughter and a son. Fuld Hall The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. ... The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...

Skinner is a distinguished visiting professor in the humanities at Queen Mary, University of London, for the 2007-2008 academic year and will be Professor in the Humanities at Queen Mary beginning the 2008-2009 academic year.^[1] Affiliations: University of London Association of Commonwealth Universities 1994 Group Website: http://www. ...

Academia

Skinner's historical writings have been characterised by an interest in recovering the ideas of Early Modern and previous political writers. This has been spread over Renaissance republican authors (see in Principal publications below, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought [1978]), the 'pre-Humanist' dictatores of later medieval Italy, through Machiavelli, and more recently (in Liberty before Liberalism [1998]) the English republicans of the mid-seventeenth century (including John Milton, James Harrington, and Algernon Sidney). The work of the 1970s and 1980s was in good part directed towards writing an account of the history of the modern idea of the state. In more recent publications he has preferred the more capacious term 'neo-Roman' to 'republican'. Machiavelli redirects here. ... For other persons named John Milton, see John Milton (disambiguation). ... Portrait of James Harrington, oil on canvas, c. ... Algernon Sydney (or Sidney) (~1622-1683) was an English politician, an opponent of King Charles II of England. ... For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ...

He is generally regarded as one of the two principal members of the influential 'Cambridge School' of the study of the history of political thought. The other principal member of this school is the historian J.G.A. Pocock, whose The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law (1957) was a significant early influence. Another important stimulus came from the work of Peter Laslett, and more particularly from Laslett's decisive edition of John Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1966). Political science is an academic and research discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. ... John G.A. Pocock is a British historian, noted for his studies of republicanism in the early modern period, for his contributions to the intellectual history of political thought in general, and his studies of historiography in relation to Edward Gibbon and his contemporiaries. ... (Thomas) Peter Ruffell Laslett (18 December 1915 - 8 November 2001) was an English historian. ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ...

The 'Cambridge School' is best known for its attention to the 'languages' of political thought.^[2] Skinner's particular contribution was to articulate a theory of interpretation which concentrated on recovering the author's intentions in writing classic works of political theory (Machiavelli, Thomas More, and Thomas Hobbes have been continuing preoccupations). This theory was initially presented in terms of speech act theory. One of the consequences of this account of interpretation is an emphasis on the necessity of studying less well-known political writers as a means of shedding light on the classic authors. A further consequence has been an attack on the uncritical assumption that political classics are monolithic and free-standing. In its earlier versions this added up to an attack on the approach of an older generation, particularly on that of Leo Strauss. Detail of the portrait of Machiavelli, ca 1500, in the robes of a Florentine public official Niccolò Machiavelli (May 3, 1469—June 21, 1527) was an Italian political philosopher during the Renaissance. ... For the Elizabethan play, see Sir Thomas More (play). ... Hobbes redirects here. ... The notion speech act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language. ... Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973), was a German-born Jewish-American political philosopher who specialized in the study of classical political philosophy. ...

Skinner's longstanding concern with the speech acts of political writing helps explain his turn at the beginning of the 1990s towards the role of neo-classical rhetoric in early modern political theory, which resulted in his study of Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes (1996). Neo-classical rhetoric can be regarded as a form of early modern speech act theory. Rhetoric (from Greek , rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of oral, visual, or written language; however, this definition of rhetoric has expanded greatly since rhetoric emerged as a field of study in universities. ...

More recently, he has turned to the classic preoccupation of Cambridge Regius Professors (not least Lord Acton), the history of liberty. The history of theories of political representation has been an offshoot of this interest. John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), commonly known as simply Lord Acton, was an English historian, the only son of Sir Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton, 7th Baronet and grandson of the Neapolitan admiral, Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet. ... For other uses, see Liberty (disambiguation). ...

In a significant development of his earlier and biting critiques of anachronism in the history of ideas, he now advances the view that one purpose of studying the history of political thought is to excavate past ideas in order to reassert their potential importance in modern political debate. Nevertheless, at one point he wrote that we moderns must "do more thinking on our own." Look up Anachronism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The history of ideas is a field of research in history that deals with the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time. ...

Principal publications

• "Meaning and understanding in the History of Ideas," History and Theory 8 (1969), pp. 3 – 53.
• The foundations of modern political thought, 2 vols., (Cambridge: 1978).
• Machiavelli [Past Masters series] (Oxford: 1981); reissued as Machiavelli: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: 2000).
• The return of Grand Theory in the human sciences, ed.; co-author (Cambridge: 1985).
• "The State," in Political Innovation and Conceptual Change, eds. Terence Ball, James Farr and Russell L. Hanson (Cambridge: 1989), pp. 90 – 131.
• Reason and rhetoric in the philosophy of Hobbes (Cambridge: 1996).
• Liberty before liberalism (Cambridge: 1998).
• "A third concept of liberty," Proceedings of the British Academy 117(2002), pp. 237 – 268.
• Visions of politics, 3 vols.: Regarding Method; Renaissance Virtues; Hobbes and Civil Science (Cambridge: 2002;2005).
• "States and the freedom of citizens," in Quentin Skinner, Bo Stråth (eds.), States and citizens: history, theory, prospects (Cambridge: 2003).

Notes

John G.A. Pocock is a British historian, noted for his studies of republicanism in the early modern period, for his contributions to the intellectual history of political thought in general, and his studies of historiography in relation to Edward Gibbon and his contemporiaries. ...

Bibliography

• Perreau-Saussine, Emile. Quentin Skinner in context[2], Review of Politics, vol. 68 (1), 2007, pp. 106-122
• Palonen, Kari . Quentin Skinner. History, Politics, Rhetoric, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003
• Meaning and context: Quentin Skinner and his critics, ed. James Tully, Princeton: 1988

External links

• Quentin Skinner - official page
• Philosophy Bites podcast of Quentin Skinner on Hobbes on the State
• Radio interview explains some of concepts regarding freedom and democracy that earned the recognition of 2006 Balzan Prize, in RealAudio or in MP3 referenced in a Google cached page from Vatican Radio dated 14/12/2006 at dataset 15.12.21.
• - 'Three Concepts of Liberty' Video recorded at the Einstein Forum, Potsdam, Germany.

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