Autore
Nederman, Cary J.

Titolo
Constitutionalism and Consent. The Roles of "Quod omnes tangit" in the Political Thought of William of Ockham
Periodico
Storia del pensiero politico
Anno: 2025 - Fascicolo: 1 - Pagina iniziale: 3 - Pagina finale: 17

The maxim "Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari debet" (ordinarily abbreviated Qot), or one of its many variants, was commonly employed in medieval political and legal writings. Translated into English as «what touches all must be approved by all», it has ordinarily been understood by scholars to express a nascent justification of constitutionalism, democracy or popular sovereignty, or at any rate a principle underlying some system of representative government that limited the power of rulers. By contrast, I assert that Qot constituted a sort of rhetorical flourish, a cipher, that could be manipulated to suit a vast array of legal and political arguments. In support of this claim, I investigate the deployment of Qot in several of William of Ockham’s writings on the relation between the church and temporal power. Ultimately, it will become evident Ockham made it serve many purposes according to his particular polemical requirements.



SICI: 2279-9818(2025)1<3:CACTRO>2.0.ZU;2-3
Testo completo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.4479/116548
Testo completo alternativo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.4479/116548

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