The Marsilian Reading of the Aristotelian νóμος (The Multiplicity in the Construction of Sovereignty)

Abstract

The paper deals with the interpretation made by Marsilio de Padua of the Aristotelian definition of law. In the first place, the author analyzes the definition of Aristotle to determine why Aristotle says that it is coercive. Since Marsilio works on the translation of Roberto Grosseteste, in second place the author analyzes that translation. He then carefully examines the steps taken by Marsilio to offer his own definition of coercive lex. The paper concludes by showing the transition from the Aristotelian conception of the law, derived from a unitary rational principle (phrónesis and noûs), towards the Marsilian conception of the law, built from the empirical principle of the multiplicity of citizens.