THE USE OF BODY METAPHOR IN DESCRIBING THE SOCIAL IN CHRISTINE DE PIZAN’S “THE BOOK OF THE BODY POLITIC”

Abstract

The article analyzes «The Book of the Body Politic» (1404–1407) by Christine de Pizan to show how she updated the metaphor of body politic traditional for the Middle Ages, and what were the reasons for the creation of this treatise. In it, Christine excluded the clergy from the tripartite social order scheme: in the political body the sovereign replaced the pope and the clergy. Instead of the Church playing the leading role as the ‘soul’ of society, the author introduced humanistic concepts of "good arising from the virtue" and "morals". Christine also included the third estate in the political life of a kingdom, providing its stratification and hierarchization, and giving a profound description of its role in the body politic. The metaphorical concept of " body politic" broke away from the ecclesiastical and mystical connotations and took root in the secular, political-philosophical tradition.