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 Title page from the first edition | |
| Author | Giovanni Botero |
|---|---|
| Original title | Della Ragion di Stato |
| Language | Italian |
| Series | None |
| Subject | Political philosophy |
| Publisher | appresso i Gioliti |
Publication date | 1589 |
| Publication place | Italy |
| Media type | |
The Reason of State (Italian: Della Ragion di Stato) is a work of political philosophy by Italian Jesuit Giovanni Botero published in 1589. The book first popularised the term "reason of state",[1][2] which refers to the right of rulers to act in ways that go against the dictates of both natural and positive law, with the overriding aim of acquiring, preserving, and augmenting the dominion of the state to be used for the public welfare.[3][4] This way of thinking about government morality emerged at the end of the fifteenth century and remained prevalent until the eighteenth century. Botero supports the political role of the Catholic Church and criticizes the amoral methods of statecraft associated with Niccolò Machiavelli. He is one of the first to present economics as an integral aspect of politics.
- ^ Botero was the first to use the term in a book title: Harro Höpfl, Jesuit Political Thought: The Society of Jesus and the State, c.1540–1630 (Cambridge, 2004), p. 84.
- ^ "Renaissance political thought". Blackwell encyclopaedia of political thought. 1987. p. 431.
The word [Reason of State] became familiar after Giovanni Botero's Ragione di stato was published in 1589
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Höpfl, Harro (2011). Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy: Reason of State. Dordrecht: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_433.