ABSTRACT
The history of early modern political thought began as a half-hearted modernist project. The subject is generally thought of as the specialised branch of historical writing concerned with the conceptual vocabulary within which political institutions, practices, and conflicts are understood. The contribution of early modern political thought to liberty was largely unconscious, in so far as the sectarian assertions of their rights, whatever their motives, led to the division of power which made limited government possible. Hans Baron’s civic humanism offered a complete alternative to both the liberal and Marxist accounts of the history of political thought, thereby capturing more accurately the contemporary understanding of the relationship between property and political participation, and offering a more convincing account of the genealogy of democratic self-government. The liberal story that the heart of early modern political thought was fundamental law and individual rights was strengthened by its critics.
