This article argues that William Shakespeare’s King Lear anticipates core political dynamics of the English Civil War (1641-49), and philosophical tenets of the British Enlightenment in John Locke and David Hume. It analyzes three principle and competing paradigms of public authority in King Lear: theodicy, nature, and the autonomy of thought. The play is historically contextualized within the 16th century. King Lear, moreover, portends revolutionary new thought patterns: the centerless universe of modern astronomy, and human embeddedness in fluid nature without fixed identity. Three variants on the concept of “nothing” – existential, social, and philosophical interweave the cosmic and political threads, based on a circular temporality. Shakespeare’s character, Cordelia, affirms the everyday over the cosmic, and the sociological over the metaphysical. King Lear depicts a profound moral trans-valuation in early modern history, whose shifting temporal horizons remain central also to contemporary politics.

中文翻译：

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车轮的每一转：循环时间和科迪利亚的起义：从威廉·莎士比亚到英国的启蒙运动

本文认为，威廉·莎士比亚的《李尔王》预见了英国内战（1641-49）的核心政治动态，以及约翰·洛克（John Locke）和戴维·休姆（David Hume）的英国启蒙运动的哲学宗旨。它分析了李尔王时期公共权力的三个原则和相互竞争的范式：神学，自然和思想自治。该剧在16世纪的历史背景中得到了体现。此外，李尔王预示着革命性的新思维模式：现代天文学的无中心宇宙，以及在没有固定身份的情况下人类在流动自然中的嵌入。基于循环的时间性，“无”概念的三种变体–存在的，社会的和哲学的交织将宇宙和政治的脉络交织在一起。莎士比亚的角色Cordelia肯定了宇宙的每一天，以及形而上学的社会学。李尔王描述了近代早期历史上深刻的道德价值转换，其时空变化对当代政治仍然至关重要。