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BODIN, JEAN (1530-1596)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 110 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BODIN, See also:JEAN (1530-1596) , See also:French See also:political philosopher, was See also:born at See also:Angers in 1530. Having studied See also:law at See also:Toulouse and lectured there on See also:jurisprudence, he settled in See also:Paris as an See also:advocate, but soon applied himself to literature. In 1555 he published his first See also:work, a See also:translation of See also:Oppian's Cynegeticon into Latin See also:verse, with a commentary. The celebrated See also:scholar, See also:Turnebus, complained that some of his emendations had been appropriated without See also:acknowledgment. In 1588, in refutation of the views of the seigneur de Malestroit, See also:comptroller of the See also:mint, who maintained that there had been no rise of prices in See also:France during the three preceding centuries, he published his Responsio ad Paradoxa Malestretti (Reponse aux paradoxes de M. Malestroit), which the first See also:time explained in a nearly satisfactory manner the revolution of prices which took See also:place in the 16th See also:century. Bodin showed a more rational appreciation than many of his contemporaries of the causes of this revolution, and the relation of the See also:variations in See also:money to the See also:market values of wares in See also:general as well as to the See also:wages of labour. He saw that the amount of money in circulation did not constitute the See also:wealth of the community, and that the See also:prohibition of the export of the See also:precious metals was rendered inoperative by the necessities of See also:trade. This See also:tract, the Discours sur See also:les causes de l'extreme cherte qui ist aujourdhuy en France (1574), and the disquisition on public revenues in the See also:sixth See also:book of the Republique, entitle Bodin to a distinguished position among the earlier economists. His learning, genial disposition, and conversational See also:powers won him the favor of See also:Henry III. and of his See also:brother, the duc d'See also:Alencon; and he was appointed See also:king's See also:attorney at See also:Laon in 1576. In this See also:year he married, performed his most brilliant service to his See also:country, and completed his greatest See also:literary work. Elected by the tiers etat of See also:Vermandois to represent it in the states-general of See also:Blois, he contended with skill and boldness in extremely difficult circumstances for freedom of See also:conscience, See also:justice and See also:peace.

The See also:

nobility and See also:clergy favoured the See also:League, and urged the king to force his subjects to profess the See also:Catholic See also:religion. When Bodin found he could not prevent this See also:resolution being carried, he contrived to get inserted in the See also:petition See also:drawn up by the states the clause " without See also:war," which practically rendered nugatory all its other clauses. While he thus resisted the clergy and nobility he successfully opposed the demand of the king to be allowed to alienate the public lands and royal demesnes, although the See also:chief deputies had been won over to assent. This lost him the favour of the king, who wanted money on any terms. In 1581 he acted as secretary to the duc d'Alengon when that See also:prince came over to See also:England to seek the See also:hand of See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth. Here he had the See also:pleasure of finding that the Republique was studied at See also:London and See also:Cambridge, although in a barbarous Latin translation. This determined him to translate his work into Latin himself (1586). The latter See also:part of Bodin's See also:life was spent at Laon, which he is said to have persuaded to declare for the League in 1589, and for Henry IV. five years afterwards. He died of the See also:plague in 1596, and was' buried in the See also:church of the See also:Carmelites. With all his breadth and liberality of mind Bodin was a credulous believer in See also:witchcraft, the virtues of See also:numbers and the See also:power of the stars, and in 158o he published the Demonomanie See also:des sorciers, a work which shows that he was not exempt from the prejudices of the See also:age. Himself regarded by most of his See also:con-temporaries as a sceptic, and by some as an atheist, he denounced all who dared to disbelieve in sorcery, and urged the burning of witches and wizards. It might, perhaps, have gone hard with him if his counsel had been strictly followed, as he confessed to have had from his See also:thirty-seventh year a friendly demon, who, if properly invoked, touched his right See also:ear when he purposed doing what was wrong, and his See also:left when he meditated doing See also:good.

His chief work, the Six livres de in Republique (Paris, 1576), which passed through several See also:

editions in his lifetime, that of 1583 having as an appendix L'Apologie de Rene Herpin (Bodin himself), was the first See also:modern See also:attempt to construct an elaborate See also:system of political See also:science. It is perhaps the most important work of its See also:kind between See also:Aristotle and modern writers. Though he was much indebted to Aristotle he used the material to See also:advantage, adding much from his own experience and See also:historical knowledge. In See also:harmony with the conditions of his age, he approved of See also:absolute governments, though at the same time they must, he thought, be controlled by constitutional See also:laws. He entered into an elaborate See also:defence of individual See also:property against See also:Plato and More, rather perhaps because the See also:scheme of his work required the treatment of that theme than because it was practically urgent in his See also:day, when the excesses of the See also:Ana-See also:baptists had produced a strong feeling against communistic doctrines. He was under the general See also:influence of the mercantilist views, and approved of energetic governmental interference in See also:industrial matters, of high taxes on See also:foreign manufactures and See also:low duties on raw materials and articles of See also:food, and attached See also:great importance to a dense See also:population. But he was not a See also:blind follower of the system; he wished for unlimited freedom of trade in many cases; and he was in advance of his more eminent contemporary See also:Montaigne in perceiving that the gain of one nation is not necessarily the loss of another. To the public finances, which he called " the sinews of the See also:state," he devoted much See also:attention, and insisted on the duties of the See also:government in respect to the right See also:adjustment of See also:taxation. In general he deserves the praise of steadily keeping in view the higher aims and interests of society in connexion with the regulation and development of its material life. Among his other See also:works are Oratio de instituenda in republica juventate (1559) ; Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem (1566); Universale Naturae Theatrum (1596, French trans. by Fougerolles, 1597), and the Colloquium Heptaplomeres de abditis rerum sublimium arcanis, written in 1588, published first by Guhrauer (1841) , and in a See also:complete See also:form by L. Noack (1857). The last is a See also:philosophy of See also:naturalism in the form of a conversation between seven learned men—a See also:Jew, a See also:Mahommedan, a Lutheran, a Zwinglian, a See also:Roman Catholic, an Epicurean and a Theist.

Phoenix-squares

The conclusion to which they are represented as coming is that they will live together in charity and See also:

toleration, and cease from further disputation as to religion. It is curious that See also:Leibnitz, who originally regarded the Colloquium as the work of a professed enemy of See also:Christianity, subsequently described it as a most valuable See also:production (cf. M. See also:Carriere, Weltanschauung, P. 317). See H. See also:Baudrillart, J. Bodin et son temps (Paris, 1853) ; Ad. See also:Franck, Reformateurs et publicistes de l'See also:Europe (Paris, 1864) ; N. Planchenault, Etudes sur Jean Bodin (Angers, 1858); E. de Barthe-lemy, Etude sur J. Bodin (Paris, 1876) ; for the political philosophy of Bodin, see P. See also:Janet, Hist. de in science polit.

(3rd ed., Paris, 1887) ; Hancke, B. Studien fiber d. Begriff d. Souverdnitett (See also:

Breslau, 1894), A. See also:Bardoux. Les Legistes et leur influence sur la See also:soc. francaise ; Fournol, Bodin predecesseur de See also:Montesquieu (Paris, 1896) ; for his political See also:economy, J. K. See also:Ingram, Hist. of Pol. Econ. (London, 1888) ; for his ethical teaching, A. Desjardins, Les Moralistes frangais du seizieme siecle, ch. v.; and for his historical views, R. See also:Flint's Philosophy of See also:History in Europe (ed.

1893), pp. 190 See also:

foil.

End of Article: BODIN, JEAN (1530-1596)

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