The Political Philosophy of the European City

Ferenc Hoercher is research professor and head of the Research Institute of Politics of the University of Public Service in Budapest.

Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. From the "Reason of the City" to the "Practical Wisdom of the City" Chapter 2. The City of The Italian Renaissance and the German City Chapter 3. The City of Ancient Greece and Christian Europe Chapter 4. From the Megalopolis to the City of Human Scale Conclusion: The City as a Work of Art

"Through a skilled analysis of a very rich amount of sources and literature, from the ancient classics to contemporary writers and scholars, Ferenc Hoercher claims that because of the variety of the strong roots of the European cities they could return to be sustainable self-governing communities." -- Mario Ascheri, Roma Tre University Hoercher's approach could be described as historical, as he walks the reader through a narrow history of experience, thought, and practice of European polis life. His distinction between the urbs and the civitas undergirds the analysis of life in the European city, be it twentieth century Buda, ancient Athens, or early modern Geneva. The urbs are pivotal to understanding the aims and conventions of city life. They provide a window into the civitas. For it is the latter that expresses itself, for better or worse, in the former... Hoercher's tour starts in contemporary Buda and works backwards through Renaissance Florence, Venice, and Siena, the Germanic cities of the Holy Roman Empire, medieval Europe, to Plato's and Aristotle's Athens. The latter isn't, by any means, meant to be a climax. Hoercher is no Whig historian in reverse. Rather, his conviction is that by looking for patterns of practice, conduct, and understanding in the cities of Europe, we ought to be able to discern wisdom for today. * Kirk Center *