Biography

Quentin Skinner was born the second son of Alexander Skinner, CBE (died 1979), and Winifred Rose Margaret, ne Duthie (died 1982). Educated at Bedford School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, he was elected into a Fellowship there in 1962 upon obtaining a double-starred First in History, but immediately gained a teaching Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he remained until moving to the University of London in 2008. He is now an Honorary Fellow of both Christ's College and Gonville and Caius College. In the middle 1970s he spent four formative years at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. It was there that he met Raymond Geuss, later a colleague at Cambridge. Together with John Dunn and J. G. A. Pocock Skinner has been said to have founded the "Cambridge School" of the history of political thought. In 1978 he was appointed to the chair of Political Science at the University of Cambridge, and in 1996 he was appointed Regius Professor of History. He was pro-vice-chancellor of Cambridge in 1999. In 1979 he married Susan James, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College London; they have a daughter and a son. Skinner has delivered many prestigious lecture-series, including: - the Christian Gauss Seminars in Criticism at Princeton (1980), - the Carlyle Lectures at Oxford (1980), - the Messenger Lectures at Cornell (1983), - the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Harvard (1984), - the T. S. Eliot Memorial Lectures at Kent (1995), - the Ford Lectures at Oxford (2003), - the Clarendon Lectures at Oxford (2011), - the Clark Lectures at Cambridge (2012). Skinner was Distinguished Visiting Professor at Queen Mary, University of London for the 2007-2008 academic year, and has been Barber Beaumont Professor of the Humanities at Queen Mary since October 2008.[2] Skinner is a Fellow of numerous scholarly associations, including the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academia Europaea, the American Philosophical Society and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, and his scholarship has won him many awards, including the Wolfson Prize for History (1979); the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize of the British Political Studies Association (2006); the Benjamin Lippincott Award (2001) and the David Easton Award (2007) of the American Political Science Association; the Bielefelder Wissenschaftspreis (2008); and a Balzan Prize (2006). He holds honorary degrees from many Universities, including Aberdeen, Athens, East Anglia, Chicago, Harvard, Helsinki, Leuven, Oslo, Oxford, Santiago and St Andrews. Since 2009 he has been a member of the Balzan Prize Committee.

Academia
Skinner's historical writings have been characterised by an interest in recovering the ideas of Early Modern and previous political writers. This has been spread over Renaissance republican authors (see in Principal publications below, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought [1978]), the 'pre-Humanist' dictatores of later medieval Italy, Machiavelli, and more recently (in Liberty before Liberalism [1998]) the English republicans of the midseventeenth century (including John Milton, James Harrington, and Algernon Sidney). The work of the 1970s and 1980s was in good part directed towards writing an account of the history of the modern idea of the state. In more recent publications he has preferred the more capacious term 'neo-Roman' to 'republican'. He is generally regarded as one of the two principal members of the influential 'Cambridge School' of the study of the history of political thought. The other principal member of this school is the historian J.G.A. Pocock, whose The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law (1957) was a significant early influence. Another important stimulus came from the work of Peter Laslett, and more particularly from Laslett's decisive edition of John Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1960) which Skinner read as an undergraduate in his second year at Cambridge. The 'Cambridge School' is best known for its attention to the 'languages' of political thought and the contextual focus this gives its distinctive blend of intellectual history and the history of political thought.[3] Skinner's particular contribution was to articulate a theory of interpretation which concentrated on recovering the 'speech acts' embedded in the 'illocutionary' statements of specific individuals in writing works of political theory (Machiavelli, Thomas More, and Thomas Hobbes have been continuing preoccupations). This work was based on Skinner's study of the philosophical preoccupations of J. L. Austin and the later Wittgenstein. One of the consequences of this account of interpretation is an emphasis on the necessity of studying less well-known political writers as a means of shedding light on the classic authors - although it also consciously questions the extent to which it is possible to distinguish 'classic' texts from the contexts, and particularly the arguments, in which they originally occurred and as such it is an attack on the uncritical assumption that political classics are monolithic and free-standing. In its earlier versions this added up to what many have seen as a persuasive critique on the approach of an older generation, particularly on that of Leo Strauss. Skinner's longstanding concern with the speech acts of political writing helps explain his turn at the beginning of the 1990s towards the role of neo-classical rhetoric in early modern political theory, which resulted in his study of Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes (1996). Skinner has since returned to what has often been seen as an enduring interest to the Regius Professors of History at the University of Cambridge (not least Lord Acton), the history of liberty and particular developing what he has articulated as a 'third form of liberty'. This can most effectively be described as a form of 'negative' liberty (or neo-Roman) which is characterised however by the active participation in government to remain free from interference and the slavery caused by succumbing to an arbitrary power.[4] Recently (2008) he published an analysis of the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes as a polemical retort to those who, in the English civil war, espoused precisely such a 'neo-Roman' concept of human freedom.[5] Currently he is working on a monograph on Shakespeare and Rhetorical Invention for Oxford University Press to be published in 2014 which develops his lectures of the same name presented at Oxford and Cambridge in 2011 and 2012.[6]

Miscellany
In an interview with Professor Alan Macfarlane of Kings College, Skinner revealed that he was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, a secret society of Cambridge University. He also revealed that Amartya Sen was a fellow member at this time. He commented they were both 'outed' some time ago. On 6 October 1995, Skinner's two-volume The Foundations of Modern Political Thought (1978) appeared on the The Times Literary Supplement "100 Most Influential Books Since World War II".[7]

Principal publications
Books

The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: Volume I: The Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 1978) ISBN 978-0521293372 The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: Volume II: The Age of Reformation (Cambridge University Press, 1978) ISBN 978-0521294355 Machiavelli (Oxford University Press, 1981) ISBN 978-0192854070 Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes (Cambridge University Press, 1996) ISBN 978-0521596459 Liberty before Liberalism (Cambridge University Press, 1998) ISBN 978-1107689534 Visions of Politics: Volume I: Regarding Method (Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN 978-0521589260 Visions of Politics: Volume II: Renaissance Virtues (Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN 978-0521589253 Visions of Politics: Volume III: Hobbes and Civil Science (Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN 978-0521890601 L'artiste en philosophie politique (Editions du Seuil, Paris, 2003) ISBN 9782912107152 Hobbes and Republican Liberty (Cambridge University Press, 2008) ISBN 9780521714167 Vilkrlig makt; essays om politisk frihet (Forlaget Res Publica,Oslo, 2009) ISBN 9788282260008 Visionen des Politischen (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 2009) ISBN 978-3-518-29510-6 Staten og friheten (Forlaget Res Publica, Oslo, 2011) ISBN 9788282260251 Uma Genealogia do Estado Moderno (Imprensa de Cincias Sociais, Lisbon, 2011) ISBN 978-972-671-289-3 Die drei Krper des Staates (Wallstein, Gttingen, 2012) ISBN 978-3835311572 La vrit et lhistorien (Editions EHESS, Paris, 2012) ISBN 978-2-7132-2368-6 Shakespeare and Rhetorical Invention (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2014)

Books edited

(Co-editor and contributor), Philosophy, Politics and Society: Fourth Series (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1972) ISBN 9780631144106 (Co-editor and contributor), Philosophy in History (Cambridge University Press, 1984) ISBN 978-0521273305

(Editor and contributor), The Return of Grand Theory in the Human Sciences (Cambridge University Press, 1985) ISBN 978-0521398336 (Co-editor and contributor), The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 1988) ISBN 978-0521251044 (Co-editor), Machiavelli, The Prince (trans. Russell Price) (Cambridge University Press, 1988) ISBN 978-0521349932 (Co-editor and contributor), Machiavelli and Republicanism (Cambridge University Press, 1990) ISBN 978-0521435895 (Co-editor and contributor), Political Discourse in Early-modern Britain (Cambridge University Press, 1993) ISBN 978-0521392426 (Co-editor) Milton and Republicanism (Cambridge University Press, 1995) ISBN 9780521646482 (Co-editor and contributor), Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage, Volume I: Republicanism and Constitutionalism in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN 978-0521672351 (Co-editor and contributor), Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage, Volume II: The Values of Republicanism in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN 978-0521672344 (Co-editor and contributor), States and Citizens: History, Theory, Prospects (Cambridge University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0521539265 (Co-editor), Thomas Hobbes: Writings on Common Law and Hereditary Right (The Clarendon Edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes, Volume XI) (The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2005) ISBN 978-0199236237 (Co-editor and contributor), Sovereignty in Fragments: The Past, Present and Future of a Contested Concept (Cambridge University Press, 2010) ISBN 978-1107000049 (Editor) Families and States in Western Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2011) ISBN 978-0521128018 (Co-editor and contributor), Freedom and the Construction of Europe, Volume I: Religious Freedom and Civil Liberty (Cambridge University Press, 2013) ISBN 9781107033061 (Co-editor and contributor), Freedom and the Construction of Europe, Volume II: Free Persons and Free States (Cambridge University Press, 2013) ISBN 978-1107033078

Interviews

1997: An Interview with Quentin Skinner, Cogito 11, pp. 6978 doi:10.5840/cogito19971122 2000a: Intervista a Quentin Skinner: Conseguire la libert promuovere luguaglianza, Il pensiero mazziniano 3, pp. 11822 2000b: Entrevista: Quentin Skinner in As muitas faces da histria, ed. Maria Lcia Pallares-Burke, Brazilia, pp. 30739 ISBN 9788571393073 [Trans. in The New History: Confessions and Conversations, ed. Maria Lcia Pallares-Burke, Cambridge, 2003 ISBN 9780745630212] 2001: Quentin Skinnerin haastattelu, Niin & Nin 31, pp. 823 2002: Encountering the Past: An Interview with Quentin Skinner Finnish Yearbook of Political Thought [Redesciptions Yearbook of Political Thought, Conceptual History and Feminist Theory] 6, pp. 3263 2003: La Libert Politica ed il Mestiere dello Storico: Intervista a Quentin Skinner, Teoria Politica 19, pp. 17785

2006: Historia intelectual y accin poltica: Una entrevista con Quentin Skinner, Historia y Poltica 16, pp. 23758 2007a: Neither text, nor context: An interview with Quentin Skinner, Groniek: Historisch Tijdschrift 174, pp. 11733 ISBN 978-90-72918-66-6 2007b: La Historia de mi Historia: Una Entrevista con Quentin Skinner, El giro contextual: Cinco ensayos de Quentin Skinner y seis comentarios, ed. Enrique Bocardo Crespo, Madrid, pp. 4560. 2007c: Intellectual History, Liberty and Republicanism: An Interview with Quentin Skinner, Contributions to the History of Concepts 3, pp. 10223 doi:10.1163/180793207X209093 2008: Concepts only have histories, interview with Quentin Skinner by Emmanuelle Tricoire and Jacques Levy, EspacesTemps, document 3692 2009a: Making History; The Discipline in Perspective: Interview with Professor Quentin Skinner, Storia e Politica, 1, pp. 11334. 2009b: Wie frei sind wir wirklich? Fragen an Quentin Skinner, Zeitschrift fr Ideengeschichte 3, pp. 521. 2012a: Prokhovnik, Raia. "Approaching political theory historically: an interview with Quentin Skinner.". In Browning, Gary; Dimova-Cookson, Maria; Prokhovnik, Raia. Dialogues with contemporary political theorists. Houndsmill, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 181196. ISBN 9780230303058 2012b : 'On Politics and History: A Discussion with Quentin Skinner, Francisco Quijano and Georgios Giannakopoulos, Journal of Intellectual History and Political Thought 1.1, pp. 7-31 ISSN 2051-6959 [Spanish: 'Historia y poltica en perspectiva: Entrevista a Quentin Skinner', Signos Filosficos, 15 (29):167-191 ISSN 1665-1324]

Bibliography

1988: James Tully (Editor), Meaning and Context: Quentin Skinner and his Critics (Polity Press and Princeton University Press) ISBN 978-0691023014 1995: M. Edling and U. Morkenstam, Quentin Skinner: From Historian of Ideas to Political Scientist, Scandinavian Political Studies 18, pp. 11932 doi:10.1111/j.14679477.1995.tb00158.x 1996: Dossier Quentin Skinner, Krisis 64. 2001: Quentin Skinner og Intellektuel Historie, Slagmark: Special Number (33) ISSN 1904-8602 2003a: Kari Palonen, Quentin Skinner: History, Politics, Rhetoric (Cambridge: Polity Press) ISBN 9780745628561 2003b: Kari Palonen, Die Entzauberung der Begriffe: Das Umschreiben der politischen Begriffe bei Quentin Skinner und Reinhart Koselleck (Mnster) ISBN 9783825872229 2006: Annabel Brett and James Tully (Editors), Rethinking the Foundations of Modern Political Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) ISBN 9780521615037 2007a: Emile Perreau-Saussine, Quentin Skinner in context, Review of Politics, 68, pp. 106122 doi:10.1017/S0034670507000332 2007b: Enrique Bocardo Crespo (Editor), El giro contextual: Cinco ensayos de Quentin Skinner y seis comentarios (Madrid: Editorial Tecnos) ISBN 9788430945504

2007c: Michael Drolet, Quentin Skinner and Jacques Derrida on Power and the State, History of European Ideas, 33, pp. 23455 doi:10.1016/j.histeuroideas.2006.11.003 2008: Ryan Walter, Reconciling Foucault and Skinner on the state: the primacy of politics? History of the Human Sciences, 21, pp. 94114 doi:10.1177/0952695108093955 2009a: Richard Fisher '"How to do things with books": Quentin Skinner and the dissemination of ideas', History of European Ideas 35, pp. 27680 doi:10.1016/j.histeuroideas.2008.11.001 2009b: Frank Beck Lassen and Mikkel Thorup (Editors), Quentin Skinner: Politik og historie: En tekstsamling (Copenhagen: Hans Reitzels Forlag) ISBN 9788741252674 2010: Marco Geuna, 'Quentin Skinner e Machiavelli' in Anglo-American Faces of Machiavelli, ed. A. Arienzo and G. Borrelli, Milano, pp. 577622 ISBN 978-88-7699141-7 2012a: Salvatore Muscolino, Linguaggio, storia e politica: Ludwig Wittgenstein eQuentin Skinner (Palmermo: Saladino) ISBN 9788895346175 2012b: Journal of the History of Ideas Symposium: On Quentin Skinner, from Method to Politics doi:10.1353/jhi.2012.0000

References
1. ^ http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/profiles/89576.pdf 2. ^ source: University of London site at [1]. 3. ^ Anthony Pagden, ed., The Languages of Political Theory in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: 1987); J.G.A. Pocock: The Cambridge School. 4. ^ See for example Quentin Skinner, A Third Concept of Liberty, Proceedings of the British Academy, 117 (2002), pp. 23768. 5. ^ Quentin Skinner (2008). Hobbes and Republican Liberty, Cambridge. ISBN 9780521714167 6. ^ See "Shakespeare and Rhetorical Invention: The Clarendon Lectures in English 2011". 7. ^ Lists of Bests: The Times Literary Supplement's "100 Most Influential Books Since World War II".

External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Quentin Skinner

Queen Mary, University of London School of History: Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities Professor Quentin Skinner - official page Philosophy Bites podcast of Quentin Skinner on Hobbes on the State Philosophy Bites podcast of Quentin Skinner on Machiavelli's The Prince 'On Politics and History: A Discussion with Quentin Skinner, Francisco Quijano and Georgios Giannakopoulos, Journal of Intellectual History and Political Thought 1.1, pp. 7-31 Radio interview explains some of concepts regarding freedom and democracy that earned the recognition of 2006 Balzan Prize, in RealAudio or in MP3 referenced in a Google cached page from Vatican Radio dated 14 December 2006 at dataset 15.12.21.

- 'Three Concepts of Liberty' Video recorded at the Einstein Forum, Potsdam, Germany.

Philosophy portal

On Encountering the Past An interview with Quentin Skinner by Petri Koikkalainen and Sami Syrjmki. Quentin Skinner interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 10th January 2008 (film) "What is the State?" Wolfson 2007 Lecture (audio and video) "What is Freedom?" Lecture (audio) "Interview with Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University" Full Interview Video, 2008, Part I of II. "Interview with Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University" Full Interview Video, 2008, Part II of II. "The Paradoxes of Political Liberty", The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, Harvard University, 1984 "A Third Concept of Liberty", Isaiah Berlin Lecture at the British Academy, 2002 Prokhovnik, Raia (May 2011). "An interview with Quentin Skinner". Contemporary Political Theory 10 (2): 273285. doi:10.1057/cpt.2010.26.