Project description
A closer look at Cicero’s political and legal thought
The EU-funded JustCity project seeks to shed light on how the notion of justice has developed since antiquity. This project researches the influence of Roman politician and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE) on Western theories of justice. What is justice? Can republics survive in the long term without justice? Is it possible for justice to be established at an institutional level and used as a benchmark in international relations? According to Cicero, the stability of a state requires a specific, juridical kind of justice. Liberty or popular sovereignty, too, require and presuppose a particular conception of justice. This project is researching to show how Cicero’s conception of justice came to play a crucial role in Western political thought.
Objective
One of the most innovative, and historically most influential, notions in the Western debate about justice is the political theory of Cicero (106-43 BCE). This project examines the ways a Ciceronian conception of justice came to be used in political argument at specific inflection points in the history of political thought. Ciceronian justice, responding to the breakdown of order, marked a significant departure from earlier Greek theories of justice. Cicero’s law-centered views on justice, both within and between states, were conceived against moral skepticism and shaped the later history of Western political thought in crucial ways.
Cicero’s contribution has been obscured by philological trends keen on crediting Cicero’s political and ethical thought to Greek predecessors, on the one hand, and by the recent historiography on republicanism on the other. Neither of these can answer satisfyingly why Cicero’s legalized conception of justice has impacted Western political theory so thoroughly. How and why did Cicero distinguish his notion of justice from his predecessors? How did his conception come to influence both theory and institutions of justice until the enlightenment and beyond?
The project challenges conventional views by focusing on crucial crossroads Cicero’s conception of justice faced from its inception in the late Roman Republic to early modern Europe. Bringing an innovative focus on the longue durée to the topic and bringing together methodological tools from intellectual history, ancient history and philosophy, and legal history, the project provides a deep historical perspective of Cicero’s conception of justice and its later reception. This reinterpretation of the intellectual history of justice in the West reevaluates the historical logic of Ciceronian justice, showing how and why this theory of justice came to play a crucial role in the European heritage by harnessing the reception of classical antiquity to long-term intellectual history.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history ancient history
- humanities philosophy, ethics and religion philosophy political philosophy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2019-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8006 Zurich
Switzerland
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