BALTASAR ÁLAMOS BARRIENTOS IN TACITISTIC (PRE)MODERNITY

Abstract

This text intends to provide evidence that the political theory of Baltasar Álamos Barriento’s —Antonio Pérez’ thinking head— cannot be framed in modernity but that it is obviously pre-modern. Contemporary Spanish masters of political thought —Maravall, Tierno Galván, Murillo Ferrol— have discerned in Álamos Barrientos the existence of the inductive method —instead of an explicit development of casuistry— in his writings supposedly influenced by Francis Bacon. By applying the Weberian comparative method, he makes it obvious that authors preceding Álamos, such as the Italian Donato Giannotti, behold a greater trust in modernity rather than in the governor’s baroque virtue, still a manifestation of pre-modern charisma as a personal guaranty of good government.