O desenvolvimento da rejeição da propriedade comum dos bens nos Commentarii in aliquot politicos libros Aristotelis de Filipe Melanchthon

Abstract

A radical change occurred in Philipp Melanchthon’s thought between 1521 and 1530 regarding the foundation of the social division of property. In 1521, he argued about the theme using Plato’s ideals of the Republic and of the Laws as a point of departure. In 1530, Aristotle’s critique of these very ideals is assumed. The hypothesis developed in the present text is that the main reason for this position shift has to be assumed to be the Peasants’ War of 1525. After this historical event, any mention of a communal property of goods would have been suspicious of sympathy with the former rebels. Even if the 1521 interpretation which Melanchthon offered for the platonic texts already attested the practical necessity of private property, the sole mention of communal property was no more acceptable for him and probably for the authorities and for the majority of his fellow humanists. The new basis for social stability was then found in Aristotle's political ideas, which also included the defense of servitus.