Person:

Hankins, James

Eugenio Garin and Paul Oskar Kristeller were the most important interpreters of Renaissance humanism in the half century following the Second World War. This article explores the differences between their two interpretations from a biographical perspective, making use of their unpublished correspondence. Key passages from their correspondence are published in an appendix.

This article calls into question the claim of modern republicans that the republican writers of the Italian Renaissance promoted a 'non-domination' concept of political liberty, and thus can be regarded as forerunners and models for modern or neo-republicanism.