Vox Populi: Essays in the History of an Idea

by George Boas

Overview

Originally published in 1969. The proverb vox populi, vox Dei first appeared in a work by Alcuin (ca. 798), who wrote that "the people [] are to be led, not followed. [] Nor are those to be listened to who are accustomed to say, 'The voice of the people is the voice of God.'" Tracing the changing meaning of the saying through European history, George Boas finds that "the people" are not an easily identifiable group. For many centuries the butt of jokes and the substance of comic relief in serious drama, the people became in time an object of pity and, later, of aesthetic appeal. Popular opinion, despised in ancient Rome, was something sought, after the French Revolution. The first essay documents the use of the titular proverb through the eighteenth century. In the next six essays, Boas attempts to determine who the people were and how writers and philosophers have regarded them throughout history. He also examines the people as the creators of literature, art, and music, and as the subject of others' artistic representations. In a final essay, he discusses egalitarianism, which has given a voice to the common person. Animating Boas's account is his own belief in the importance of the individual's voice—as opposed to the voice of the masses, which is by no means necessarily that of God or reason.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421435046
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	02/03/2020
Series:	Seminar in the History of Ideas
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	310
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

George Boas (1891–1980) was a professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins University for over thirty years, a Guggenheim fellow, a central figure in the Journal of the History of Ideas and the fabled History of Ideas Club.

Born in 1891 in Providence, Rhode Island, George Boas taught for many years at Johns Hopkins and was editor of the Journal of the History of Ideas from 1945 until his death in 1980. He authored 24 books, including The Major Traditions of English Philosophy, The Greek Tradition: A Symposium, Rationalism in Greek Philosophy, The Limits of Reason, and The History of Ideas: An Introduction.

Table of Contents

Publisher's Note
Apologia
Chapter 1. The Proverb's Annals
Chapter 2. Who Are the People?
Chapter 3. The People in Literature
Chapter 4. The People as Poet
Chapter 5. The People in Art
Chapter 6. The People as Artist
Chapter 7. The People as Musician
Chapter 8. Egalitarianism
Photographs
Bibliography
Index