Dominion (political theory)

Not to be confused with Dominion theology.

In political theory, dominion (Latin: dominium) is the exercise of authority, possession, and/or domination.

Etymology

The term comes from Latin dominium, meaning "property, ownership", itself derived from dominus, "lord, master".^[1]

In John Wyclif's thought

The term is particularly associated with the thought of John Wyclif, whose works De dominio divino libri tres ("three books on divine dominion") and Tractatus de civili dominio ("a discourse on civil domination") developed his concepts of divine dominion (Latin: dominium divinum) and civil dominion (Latin: dominium civilis). Wyclif argued that divine dominion determined the fundamentals of the existence of any created thing: all other kinds of power derived from divine dominion. In Wyclif's thought, humans were granted dominion by the grace of the Christian God. Prior to the Fall of Man, this dominion was absolute and he called it natural dominion. After the Fall, humans accessed only a more limited form of dominion, constrained by human sinfulness, such as individual humans' selfish desire to exercise exclusive ownership of property. Civil dominion was the dominion exercised by fallen humans over other humans or property.^{[2]: 676–77 [3]: 1434} Wyclif's ideas were influential on Jan Hus and Hussite thought.^{[2]: 676–77 [4]} Wyclif's ideas about dominion have been explored in detail by Stephen E. Lahey.^[5]

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. "dominion (n.)" (July 2023), doi:10.1093/OED/6992135972.
2. "Censorship in the Renaissance", in Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, ed. by Marco Sgarbi (Springer International Publishing, 2022), pp. 666-82; ISBN 9783319141695.
3. Takashi Shogimen, "Wyclif, John", in Encyclopedia of Political Theory, Volume 1 ed, by Mark Bevir (SAGE Publications, 2010), pp. 1433-34.
4. Šmahel, František (1993-01-01), "The Hussite Critique of the Clergy's Civil Dominion", Anticlericalism in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Brill, pp. 83–90, doi:10.1163/9789004473713_007, ISBN 978-90-04-47371-3, retrieved 2024-08-01
5. Stephen E. Lahey, Philosophy and Politics in the Thought of John Wyclif (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003); ISBN 9781139439299.