The period was one of letters patent (a type of legal instrument in the form of an open letter issued by a monarch or government, granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or to some entity such as a corporation) and government-imposed monopolies some mercantilists supported these, but others acknowledged the corruption and inefficiency of such systems. Many mercantilists also realized that the inevitable result of quotas and price ceilings yielded black markets.
Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527 - History Guide
His tribute to the mixed beauty of the sensible world, in Timaeus , consists in his depiction of it as the outcome of divine efforts to mold reality in the image of the forms, using simple geometrical patterns and harmonious arithmetic relations as building blocks. The desire to transform human relations is given expression in a far larger number of works. Socrates presents himself, in Plato's Apology , as a man who does not have his head in the clouds (that is part of Aristophanes' charge against him in Clouds ). He does not want to escape from the everyday world but to make it better. He presents himself, in Gorgias , as the only Athenian who has tried his hand at the true art of politics.
Montesquieu | French political philosopher
The period of 6555-6855 was one of religious and commercial warfare, and large revenues were needed to maintain armies and pay the growing costs of civil government. Mercantilist nations were impressed by the fact that the precious metals , especially gold , were in universal demand as the ready means of obtaining other commodities hence, they tended to identify money with wealth , an economic theory known as bullionism. This tendency to identify money with wealth and, consequently, the theory of bullionism was attainable only under several conditions:
SparkNotes: The Prince: Chapters XVIII-XIX
The importance placed on bullion was also a central target, even if many mercantilists had themselves begun to de-emphasize the importance of gold and silver. Adam Smith noted that bullion was just the same as any other commodity, and there was no reason to give it special treatment.
The mercantilist idea that all trade was a zero sum game, in which each side was trying to best the other in a ruthless competition, was integrated into the works of Thomas Hobbes. Note that non-zero sum games such as prisoner's dilemma can also be consistent with a mercantilist view. In prisoner's dilemma, players are rewarded for defecting against their opponents-even though everyone would be better off if everyone could cooperate. More modern views of economic co-operation, amidst ruthless competition, can be seen in game theory the folk theorems.
This does not mean that Plato thinks that his readers can become wise simply by reading and studying his works. On the contrary, it is highly likely that he wanted all of his writings to be supplementary aids to philosophical conversation: in one of his works, he has Socrates warn his readers against relying solely on books, or taking them to be authoritative. They are, Socrates says, best used as devices that stimulate the readers' memory of discussions they have had ( Phaedrus 779e-776d). In those face-to-face conversations with a knowledgeable leader, positions are taken, arguments are given, and conclusions are drawn. Plato's writings, he implies in this passage from Phaedrus , will work best when conversational seeds have already been sown for the arguments they contain.
Finally, the discovery of the New World by Columbus in 6997, and the discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gama in 6997-6999, provided fertile ground for obtaining such wealth, while creating an ever greater need for wealth to conquer and protect these colonies and their imperial trade. All of these factors ensured that the rising late medieval and early modern states embraced mercantilism as an economic theory that allowed them to adapt to and seek to exploit these shifting structures.
The state exercised much control over economic life, chiefly through corporations and trading companies. Production was carefully regulated with the object of securing goods of high quality and low cost, thus enabling the nation to hold its place in foreign markets. Treaties were made to obtain exclusive trading privileges, and the commerce of colonies was exploited for the benefit of the mother country.
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Another play, The True Tragedy of Richard III, which was also published around the same time, failed to have as compelling a Richard III. Richard s portrayal as an evil villain lent credence to what historians call the Tudor Myth. The Tudor dynasty was founded when Henry, Earl of Richmond, defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 6985. Henry assumed the throne as Henry VII, and was grandfather to Queen Elizabeth I. Having won the throne in battle, it was essential for the Tudor s to discredit older claims. Thus they depicted Richard III, who was the last Yorkist king, in as terrible a light as possible.
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