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 The aim of the study has to do with a new and more detailed appreciation of the scholar production of the two authors, which has been most influentially received along with that of their close associate J. G. A. Pocock throughout the years as having a foundational status for the flourishing ‘Cambridge School’ of intellectual history. This being so, the text begins with an introductory chapter that covers successively two distinctive topics. Its first part is meant to elucidate how ‘method’ is conceived of and employed throughout the course of the study as well as what distinguishes the chosen approach from the already existing literature on the topic; whereas the second part of the introduction presents a carefully reconstructed summary of the most significant authors, writings and initiatives that gave gradual shape to the emergence of the said ‘Cambridge School’. The two main chapters of the dissertation proceed to the investigation of the two authors’ method by means of a close examination of their consecutive studies of the history of a single concept or idea. Therefore, chapter II takes a closer look at Quentin Skinner’s studies of the history of the concept (or idea) of the State and chapter III addresses Dunn’s work on the history of democracy. Both chapters end up with a more general reconstruction of the authors’ method and scholar profiles as a whole, whereas a similar attempt takes place in more rudimentary terms for the said ‘Cambridge School’ at large in the dissertation’s general conclusion.

MA Konstantinos Bizas defends his doctoral dissertation in Political Science "Cambridge Classics in the History of Ideas. Main Studies and Commitments of Method in the Work of Quentin Skinner & John Dunn", 26.11.2020 12:00. Opponent is assistant professor, docent Johan Strang (University of Helsinki) and custos is professor emeritus Kari Palonen (Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥).

The doctoral dissertation is held in English. The audience can follow the event online, the link is .

If a member of the audience wants to ask questions at the end of the public examination, it is possible to call the Custos. The phone number of the Custos is +358 50 366 5645.

Publication: 

Bizas, Konstantinos: Cambridge Classics in the History of Ideas: Main Studies and Commitments of Method in the Work of Quentin Skinner & John Dunn. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto, 2010, 188 s. (JYU Dissertations ISSN 2489-9003; 306) ISBN 978-951-39-8390-1 (PDF)