Il contributo di Cicerone alla nascita della dottrina moderna della “sovranità del popolo”

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show how a key concept of modern and contemporary political philosophy, the “sovereignty of people”, has been established and defended at the beginning of the 17th century by Franciesco Suarez thanks to the influence of Cicero’s political thought. With a view to this goal, I will summarize the dispute on supreme power which took place between the protestants (James I of England) and the Post-tridentine Catholic church (Roberto Bellarmino and Francisco Suarez). A comparison between Cicero and Suarez will show that a point of convergence between the two thinkers can be identified in the idea of a unification of single wills, which brings to the formation of a moral “persona” and, subsequently, to the creation of a perfect community.