Background
James Harrington was born in 1611 in Upton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, eldest son of Sir Sapcote(s) Harrington of Rand, Lincolnshire who died 1629. He was of old and extremely well-connected family.
( Time: A Philosophical Introduction presents the philoso...)
Time: A Philosophical Introduction presents the philosophy of time as the central debate between being and the becoming.This core theme brings together the key topics, debates and thinkers, making ideas such as Zeno's paradoxes, the experience of change and temporal flow and the direction and shape of time and time travel, clear and understandable. Alongside a glossary and detailed timeline to further enhance study and understanding, each chapter features: Extensive lists of further reading in both primary and secondary sources A chronological listing of key figures, brief biographical data and references True/false questions, matching, multiple choice, and short answer questions Time is a central philosophical subject, impacting on all many different aspects of philosophy. More technical discussions of issues from mathematics, logic and physics are separated into Technical Interludes,allowing readers to choose their level of difficultly. As a result this comprehensive introduction is essential reading for upper-level undergraduates studying the philosophy of time,metaphysics or the philosophy of science.
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(James Harrington's brief career as a political and histor...)
James Harrington's brief career as a political and historical theorist spans the last years of the Cromwellian Protectorate and the Restoration of 1660. This 1992 volume comprises the first and last of Harrington's writings. Harrington was the first theorist to interpret the English Civil Wars as a revolution, the result of a long-term process of social change which led to the decay of the old political order. The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656) is a fictionalised presentation of English history up to the victory of the New Model Army, explaining the fall of the monarchy and proposing a republic to replace it. A System of Politics, written after the Restoration, is a scheme of history and political philosophy erected on the foundations of his previous works. Professor Pocock's introduction emphasises Harrington's place as a pivotal figure in the history of English political thought. This edition also contains a chronology of events in Harrington's life and a guide to further reading.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N3B7QD8/?tag=2022091-20
James Harrington was born in 1611 in Upton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, eldest son of Sir Sapcote(s) Harrington of Rand, Lincolnshire who died 1629. He was of old and extremely well-connected family.
After showing much academic promise as a child, he entered Trinity College, Oxford. Upon the death of his father, he left Oxford without taking a degree and began a tour of the Continent.
Harrington became a frequent visitor at The Hague and, after meeting the Prince of Orange, was introduced to the Elector and Electress Palatine. He accompanied the elector on at least one state visit to Denmark. His discretion so impressed the elector that Harrington was later commissioned to look after his affairs at the court of his brother-in-law, Charles I.
Before returning to England, Harrington passed from Holland, through France, into Italy. Venice greatly interested him, and he proved a keen observer of the Venetian republican government, as his later works demonstrated. Upon returning to England, Harrington sought to retire from court life and devote his time to study, but in 1638-1639 was co-opted by Charles as a member of his privy chamber.
He then accompanied the King in the First Bishops' War against the Scots, but this appears to have been the extent of his active involvement in the events precipitated by that unsuccessful campaign. He does not seem to have taken part in the Short or Long Parliament, nor does he seem to have played a role in the Second Bishops' War or in the civil wars which ensued.
After Charles's defeat Harrington was named as one of the King's attendants. Although he was not in sympathy with the excesses of monarchy, he apparently got along very well with the King and is reported to have been with Charles at the time of his execution in 1649. Harrington then turned his attention to the problem of choosing the best of all possible governments for England and began work on The Commonwealth of Oceana.
Only with the greatest difficulty did Harrington succeed in convincing Cromwell of his good intentions, but his work was restored to him and finally published in 1656. Once in print, the work was violently attacked by monarchists and extreme republicans alike. These attacks led Harrington to pen a defense called The Prerogative of Popular Government, to abridge his work for a wider audience under the title The Art of Law Giving, and to further develop his views in a series of essays which were printed in 1659, the last year of the Commonwealth.
With the Restoration, Harrington retired from public life but at the end of 1661 was arrested as a traitor and thrown into the Tower. There appears to have been no basis for the accusations made against him, but Charles II's ministers evidently felt that his writings made him a dangerous foe of monarchical government. Transferred to a jail in Plymouth, he suffered from disease and from mistreatment at the hands of a prison physician, and he ultimately became insane. His release soon followed, but Harrington never recovered the full use of his faculties, nor did his health improve significantly.
(James Harrington's brief career as a political and histor...)
( Time: A Philosophical Introduction presents the philoso...)
Harrington's apparent political loyalty to Parliament did not interfere with a strong personal devotion to the King. Following his capture, Harrington accompanied a "commission" of MPs appointed to persuade Charles to move from Newcastle to Holmby House, as to be nearer London. When a further attempt was made to forcibly transfer the King to the capital, Harrington successfully intervened.
Harrington's main principle is that power depends upon the balance of property, and normally of landed property. His scheme is expounded in an imaginary history of Oceana (England), in which Olphaus Megaletor (Oliver Cromwell) founds a new constitution. His republic is a moderate aristocracy.
In 1675, just two years before his death, he married "a Mrs Dayrell, his 'old sweetheart'", the daughter of a Buckinghamshire noble. The short-lived couple had no children.