JEAN BODIN: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS - HISTORY - 2024

Jean Bodin was a French jurist, philosopher, politician, historian and economist. To a large extent, his reputation as a scholar is based on the explanation of sovereignty that he formulated in The Six Books of the Republic. In addition, he was one of the most notable intellectual figures from the 16th century.

The exposition that he made in his works of the principles of what a stable government should be was very influential in Europe. Bodin lived in a time of great upheaval, when France was being ravaged by religious wars. He was convinced that peace would be restored if the sovereign prince received absolute power from the state.

He was one of the first men to oppose slavery. In addition, he sought to reform the French judicial system and formulated one of the first versions of the quantity theory of money.

In his works a wide variety of topics is discussed; These include natural philosophy, religion, education, political economy, and historical methodology.

Biography

Origin

According to historical documents, Jean Bodin would have been born in 1529 or 1530 in Angers, in western France. His father was Guillaume Bodin, a wealthy merchant and a member of the Angers bourgeoisie.

Very little is known about his mother, apart from the fact that her name was Catherine Dutertre and that she died before the year 1561. She was the youngest of seven children, four of whom were girls.

Academic activity

Bodin joined the Carmelite brotherhood at a very young age, but renounced his vows a few years later. In 1551 Bodin went to the University of Toulouse to study civil law. From that university he graduated and remained as a professor until 1561.

So, he dropped out of teaching law and went to Paris. Throughout that decade he dedicated himself to working as a defender in the Parisian parliament.

Literary and professional activity

Along with his work as a lawyer, Bodin published in 1566 his first important work, the Method for the easy understanding of history (Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem). That same year his father died.

From that year on, an intense literary and professional activity began. Among the fruits of this intense activity we can highlight the publication of The Six Books of the Republic (1576).

Bodin was appointed Commissioner for Forest Tenure Reform in Normandy (1570) and Attorney General for Laon (1587), and later published The Theater of Nature (Universae naturae theatrum) (1596).

With the appointment of attorney general, he settled in Laon (France) from 1584. There he lived for the next 12 years. In the year 1596 Jean Bodin died a victim of the plague while he was still working as a solicitor. He was dismissed with a Catholic burial at the Franciscan Church of Laon.

Concept of sovereignty and absolutism

Sovereignty concept

According to Jean Bodin, sovereignty was an obligation beyond human law, and was subject only to divine or natural law. For Bodin, sovereignty was de fi ned in terms of absolute, perpetual, inalienable, and indivisible power.

Sovereignty conferred legitimacy on the state against powers such as the papacy and the Empire. He also did it against other powers that could coexist within the same territory.

Similarly, sovereignty was exercised only in the public sphere, not in the private one. It did not expire with the death of the person who had it, because it was not owned by any individual.

Concept of absolutism

In his work, Jean Bodin exposed the classical interpretation of absolute power. According to him, it was the power exercised by the monarch without the subjects being able to put limits on it. This conception united in the figure of the king the conditions of supreme judge and legislator.

This political doctrine and form of government had as its main objective the total control of the State.

Likewise, it sought to disappear the alternative powers contrasting with the ruler. According to this concept, the king personified sovereignty by divine right; this became known as monarchical absolutism.

Contributions of Jean Bodin

The contributions of Jean Bodin throughout more than 30 years of literary production can be summarized in the following aspects:

Method for easy understanding of history

Bodin's Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem (Method for the easy understanding of history) was first published in 1566 and revised in 1572. It is Bodin's first major work.

With this text Bodin wanted to show that the principles of politics were found in the study of the history of law.

The six books of the Republic

It was his most outstanding contribution in the field of political philosophy. It was first published in 1576 and translations into other languages ​​soon followed.

Thus, the work had translations into Italian (1588), Spanish (1590), German (1592) and English (1606).

This work is considered as Jean Bodin's response to the political crisis generated by the religious wars that occurred between 1562 and 1598. This was the most important crisis in France during the 16th century.

Bodin's economic thought

This thought was expressed in Malestroit's Response to the Paradoxes (1568) and later in a second revised version published in 1578.

Experts assure that in this work Bodin gave one of the first formulations of the quantity theory of money in this one.

Writings about religion

Jean Bodin's main contributions to religion were his works Démonomanie, colloquium heptaplomeres, and Universae naturae theatrum.

These writings were his response to the religious warlike climate in France in the 16th and 17th centuries. In these texts the issue of what was the true religion (vera religio) was addressed.

Works on witchcraft

In his work In the demonic mania of witches (De la demonomanie des sorciers, 1580), Jean Bodin assures that demonism, together with atheism, was betrayal of God.

Consequently, any attempt to manipulate demonic forces through witchcraft or natural magic was to be punished.

This work had translations into Latin (1581), German (1581) and Italian (1587). Because it was widely distributed, some historians held it accountable for prosecutions of witches in the years that followed its publication.

References

1. Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2013, July 02). Jean Bodin. Taken from britannica.com.
2. Harvard University. (s / f). Biography of Bodin. Taken from projects.iq.harvard.edu.
3. Lindfors, T. (s / f). Jean Bodin (c. 1529-1596). Taken from iep.utm.edu.
4. New World Encyclopedia Contributors. (2016, August 22). Jean Bodin. Taken from newworldencyclopedia.org.
5. D'Aquino, M and Contino, R. (2000). Changes and continuities: a look at the multiple contemporary historical processes. Buenos Aires: Editions of the Sign.
6. González Schmal, R. (2007). Constitutional law program. Mexico DF: Limusa.
7. Turchetti, M. (2017). Jean Bodin. In Edward N. Zalta (editor), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Taken from plato.stanford.edu.