The emergence of civic consciousness in 17th century England was linked to constitutional controversy in the decades preceding the civil war. The political conflict sparked an intense intellectual exploration, giving rise to the emergence of ideas and concepts that became dominant in modern political thought. The text focuses on the analysis of these languages that contributed to the development of civic consciousness. We will analyze, therefore, the language of law and the elements that contributed to the development of modern civic consciousness. If it is true that the language of law was one of the main political legacies of the 17th century, the text suggests that the language of virtue also had a crucial importance and we discuss the existence of a complex and contradictory articulation between both in the emergence of modern civic consciousness.
history of modern political thought; liberalism; humanism