Professor Quentin SkinnerEmeritus Professor of HumanitiesEmail: q.skinner@qmul.ac.ukProfileResearchPublicationsSupervisionPublic EngagementProfile I have broad interests in modern intellectual history, and have also published on a number of philosophical themes, including the nature of interpretation and historical explanation, and on several issues in contemporary political theory, including the concept of political liberty and the character of the State. Q. Skinner CV 2023 [PDF 277KB] ResearchResearch Interests: I have written extensively on questions about historical method and historical explanation, and many of these essays have been collected in the volume edited by James Tully, Meaning and Context: Quentin Skinner and his Critics (1988) and in my book Regarding Method (2001). My historical research centres on early-modern Europe, and one of my principal interests lies in the Italian Renaissance. I have published books on Machiavelli, on early Renaissance political painting, on ideals of civic virtue, and I have edited Machiavelli’s The Prince. The other main focus of my research is on seventeenth century England. I have written on the relations between rhetoric and philosophy, including a book on Shakespeare’s use of classical rhetoric, and on debates about political liberty in the English revolution. I have also published three books on the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. My best-known work, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, attempts to span the whole early-modern period. • Philosophical interests: speech-act theory; the nature of interpretation and historical explanation • Political-theoretical interests: the concept of representation; theories of political liberty; the character of the State. • Historical interests. European intellectual history of the early-modern period. Special interests: classical rhetoric in the Renaissance; the political theories of Machiavelli, Hobbes and others. Publications Books 1. The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: Volume I: The Renaissance (link is external)xxiv + 305pp., Cambridge University Press, 1978. Translated into Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Greek, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish. 2. The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: Volume II:The Age of Reformation (link is external) vi + 405pp., Cambridge University Press, 1978. Translated into Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish. 3. (a) Machiavelli (link is external) vii + 102pp., Oxford University Press, 1981. (b) Machiavelli: A Very Short Introduction (link is external)[A revised version of 3 (a)] x + 110pp., Oxford University Press, 2000.Translated into Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Malay, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish. (c) Machiavelli: A Very Short Introduction, second edition xvii+ 120pp., Oxford University Press, 2019. ISBN 978-0-19-883757-2. 4. Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes (link is external)xvi + 477pp., Cambridge University Press, 1996. Translated into Chinese, Italian, Portuguese. 5. Liberty before Liberalism (link is external)xiv + 142pp., Cambridge University Press, 1998. Translated into Chinese, Farsi, French, Greek, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. 6. [with Yves-Charles Zarka], Hobbes: The Amsterdam Debate (link is external), ed. Hans Blom 87pp., George Olms, Hildesheim, 2001. 7. Visions of Politics: Volume I:Regarding Method (link is external) xvi + 209pp., Cambridge University Press, 2002. Translated into Chinese, Farsi, French, Italian, Korean; Polish, Portuguese and Spanish translations forthcoming 8.Visions of Politics: Volume II:Renaissance Virtues (link is external)xix + 461pp. (with 12 colour plates), Cambridge University Press, 2002. Translated into Italian; Chinese and French translations forthcoming 9. Visions of Politics: Volume III:Hobbes and Civil Science (link is external) xvii + 386pp., Cambridge University Press. Chinese and French translations forthcoming. 10. L’artiste en philosophie politique (link is external)187pp. (with 8 colour plates), Editions de Seuil, Paris [Raisons d’agir Éditions], 2003. 11. Hobbes and Republican Liberty (link is external)xxiii+245pp. (with 19 illustrations), Cambridge University Press, 2008. Translated into Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish. Japanese and Romanian translations forthcoming. 12. Die drei Körper des Staates (link is external)112pp., Wallstein, Göttingen, 2012. 13. La verité et l’historien (link is external),ed. Christopher Hamel 67pp., Editions EHESS, Paris, 2011. 14. Forensic Shakespeare (link is external), xii+356pp., Oxford University Press, 2014. 15. From Humanism to Hobbes: Studies in Rhetoric and Politics, xiii+432pp., Cambridge University Press, 2018. Books Edited 1. (Co-editor and contributor), Philosophy, Politics and Society (link is external): Fourth Series Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1972. 2. (Co-editor and contributor), Philosophy in History (link is external) Cambridge University Press, 1984. Translated into Spanish. 3. (Editor and contributor), The Return of Grand Theory in the Human Sciences (link is external)Cambridge University Press, 1985. Translated into Greek, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish. 4. (Co-editor and contributor), The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy (link is external) Cambridge University Press, 1988. 5. (Co-editor), Machiavelli, The Prince (link is external) (trans. Russell Price) Cambridge University Press, 1988. 6. (Co-editor and contributor), Machiavelli and Republicanism (link is external) Cambridge University Press, 1990. Translated into Chinese. 7. (Co-editor and contributor), Political Discourse in Early-modern Britain (link is external) Cambridge University Press, 1993 Translated into Chinese. 8. (Co-editor) Milton and Republicanism (link is external) Cambridge University Press, 1995. 9. (Co-editor and contributor), Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage (link is external) Volume I: Republicanism and Constitutionalism in Early Modern Europe (link is external)Cambridge University Press, 2002. 10. (Co-editor and contributor), Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage (link is external) Volume II: The Values of Republicanism in Early Modern Europe (link is external) Cambridge University Press, 2002. 11. (Co-editor and contributor), States and Citizens: History, Theory, Prospects (link is external)Cambridge University Press, 2003. Translated into Chinese. 12. (Co-editor), Thomas Hobbes: Writings on Common Law and Hereditary Right (link is external) Edited by Alan Cromartie and Quentin Skinner (The Clarendon Edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes, Volume XI) The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2005. 13. (Co-editor and contributor) Sovereignty in Fragments: The Past, Present and Future of a Contested Concept (link is external) Cambridge University Press, 2010. 14. (Editor) Families and States in Western Europe (link is external) Cambridge University Press 2011 15. (Co-editor) Freedom and the Construction of Europe, Volume I: Religious and constitutional liberties Cambridge University Press, 2013. 16. (Co-editor) Freedom and the Construction of Europe Volume II: Free Persons and Free States, Cambridge University Press, 2013. 17. (Co-editor) Popular sovereignty in historical perspective, Cambridge University Press, 2016. Editorial Positions General Editor, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (link is external) Member of Editorial Board of the Clarendon Edition of the Complete Works of Thomas Hobbes (link is external) Member of the Editorial Board of Actes de la recherche en sciences socials (link is external) Contemporary Political Theory (link is external) Common Knowledge (link is external) Contributions to the History of Concepts (link is external) The European Review (link is external) The Journal of the Philosophy of History (link is external) The Journal of Political Ideologies (link is external) The Journal of Political Philosophy (link is external) Redescriptions (link is external) Political Theory (link is external) Raison publique (link is external) Tracés (link is external) Rivista di filosofia Storia e Politica (link is external) Storia del pensiero politico (link is external) Zeitschrift fur Ideengeschichte Supervision I am no longer accepting PhD students. Previous PhD students (degree awarded) at Queen Mary: Elliott Karstadt, Private Interests and the Common Good in early-modern England. Lorenzo Sabbadini, Property, Liberty and Self-Ownership in the English Revolution. Joanne Paul, Counsel and Command in Anglophone Political Thought, 1485-1651. Clare Whitehead, Power and Performance at the early Jacobean court. Alexandra Chadwick, Mind, action and politics: Thinking through Hobbes Signy Gutnick Allen, Crime and Punishment in the Work of Thomas Hobbes Vanessa Lim, Shakespeare's Strategies of Deliberation Katie Ebner-Landy, The Theophrastan Character-Sketch as moral and political philosophy. Public EngagementBroadcast Numerous contributions to BBC talks programmes, including: The Essay In Our Time Night Waves Start the Week Podcasts and YouTube appearances What Intellectual History Teaches Us (link is external) Art of Theory: interview with Teresa Bejan (link is external) Word and Image in the Philosophy of Hobbes (link is external) Interview with Ming Wong, Oxford Political Review (link is external) On Machiavelli, The Prince - Philosophy bites (link is external) Machiavelli: A Very Short Introduction (link is external) Thomas Hobbes: Picturing the state (link is external) A Genealogy of the State (link is external) A Genealogy of Liberty (link is external) Exploring the Humanities (link is external) Talking to thinkers: Quentin Skinner (link is external) Quentin Skinner interviewed by Alan Macfarlane: Cambridge Repository (link is external) Quentin Skinner: Meaning and Understanding: The British Academy Conference 2021 DAY 1 DAY 2 Awards 2008: The Bielefelder Wissenschaftspreis 2007: The David Easton Award, American Political Science Association 2006: The Balzan Prize 2006: The Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize, British Political Studies Association 2001-04: Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship 2001: Officier, Palmes académiques 2001: The Lippincott Award, American Political Science Association 2001: The Pilkington Teaching Prize of the University of Cambridge 1997: The Medal of the Collège de France 1979: The Wolfson History Prize Named Lecture Series 2015: The Agnes Cuming Lectures, University College Dublin 2014: The Spinoza Lectures, University of Amsterdam 2013: The Academia Sinica Lectures, Taiwan 2012: The Clark Lectures, Trinity College Cambridge 2011: The Clarendon Lectures, University of Oxford 2005: The Adorno Lectures, University of Frankfurt 2005: The Robert P. Benedict Lectures, Boston University 2003: The Page-Barbour Lectures, University of Virginia 2003: The Ford Lectures, University of Oxford 1995: The T. S. Eliot Memorial Lectures, University of Kent 1984: The Tanner Lectures, Harvard University 1983: The Messenger Lectures, Cornell University 1980: The Carlyle Lectures, University of Oxford 1980: The Gauss Seminars, Princeton University Named Lectures 2019: The Royal Danish Academy Annual Lecture in the Humanities 2018: The Annual Lecture, The German Historical Institute, London 2017: The Avineri Lecture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2016: The Harry Camp Memorial Lecture, Stanford University 2016: The J. H. Burns Lecture, the University of St Andrews 2016: The Mudd Center for Ethics Lecture, Washington and Lee University 2015: The Carl Schmitt Lecture, The Humboldt University, Berlin 2015: The Balzan Lecture, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome 2015: The Max Weber Lecture, European University Institute, Florence. 2015: The Director’s Lecture, Neubauer Collegium, University of Chicago 2014: The John Burrow Memorial Lecture, University of Sussex 2013: The AMIAS Lecture, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton 2013: The George S. Parthemos Lecture, University of Georgia 2012: The T. M. Knox Memorial Lecture, University of St Andrews 2012: The 1814 Lecture, University of Bergen 2012: The Creighton Lecture, University of London 2011: The Kantorowicz Lecture, University of Frankfurt 2010: The Sheffield Lecture, University of Sheffield 2010: The Roy Porter Memorial Lecture, University College London 2009: The Sykes Lecture, Pembroke College Cambridge 2008: The BBC History Lecture, University of London 2008: The Lady Margaret Lecture, Christ’s College Cambridge 2008: The Ramsay Murray Lecture, Selwyn College Cambridge 2008: The Annual British Academy Lecture 2008: The Una’s Lecture, University of California at Berkeley 2008: The Lansdowne Lecture, University of Victoria, Canada 2008: The Anson G. Phelps Lecture, New York University 2008: The James A. Moffett Lecture, Princeton University 2007: The Research Institute in Humanities Lecture, University of Bristol 2007: The Dr. Lee Seng Tee Lecture, Wolfson College Cambridge 2007: The Årets Sløk Lecture, University of Aarhus 2007: The Rubinstein Lecture, Queen Mary University of London 2006: The Kossmann Lecture, University of Gröningen 2006: The Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture, University of Sydney 2005: The Morrell Address, University of York 2004: The Annual European Journal of Philosophy Lecture 2003: The Lady Margaret Lecture, Christ’s College Cambridge 2003: The John Coffin Memorial Lecture, University of London 2001: The Isaiah Berlin Memorial Lecture, The British Academy 2001: The Rowland Egger Memorial Lecture, University of Virginia 2001: The Marc Bloch Lecture, École des Hautes Études, Paris 2000: The Neale Lecture, University of London 2000: The Henry Tudor Memorial Lecture, University of Durham 2000: The Patrides Lecture, University of York 2000: The John Passmore Lecture, Australian National University 1999: The Lionel Trilling Seminars, Columbia University 1998: The Judith Shklar Memorial Lecture, Harvard University 1998: The Martin Hollis Memorial Lecture, University of East Anglia 1998: The Bickley Memorial Lecture, St Hugh’s College Oxford 1996: The A. B. Emden Lecture, St Edmund Hall Oxford 1995: The Charlton Lecture, Warwick University 1994: The F. W. Bateson Memorial Lecture, Corpus Christi College Oxford 1993: The Iredell Lecture, University of Lancaster 1991: The Matthew Vassar Lecture, Vassar College 1991: The Hannah Arendt Lecture, University of Southampton 1990: The Dawes Hicks Lecture on Philosophy, British Academy 1989: The Prothero Lecture, Royal Historical Society 1988: The Warrender Lecture, University of Sheffield 1988: The H. L. A. Hart Memorial Lecture, University of Oxford 1986: The Raleigh Lecture on History, British Academy 1985: The James Ford Special Lecture, University of Oxford