The Interpretation On James Harrington's Political Thoughts

With the rising of republican revisionism, the portrait of James Harrington in the academic circle has altered from a class analyst to a classical republican. However, the one-sided emphasis of the republican elements in the works of Harrington overlooks the complexity of Harrington's political theory. Actually, Harrington stood on a very special crossing of political traditions. From Classic Republicanism he absorbed the understanding of republic political practices; from Machiavelli he received the class analytical approach; and from Hobbes he got the inspiration to build a new political science. This essay tries to reexamine the political thoughts of Harrington. And based on that, portray the real standing of Harrington between Machiavellian Republicanism and Hobbes's modern political philosophy.