The modern nation-state is the product of a gradual process in which the religiously concerned medieval political and ecclesiastical synthesis became more secular and centralized. Mirroring this external institutional development, the theoretical conception of the state changed from one of a natural organic unity of diverse corporate members to a consent-based compact among atomized individuals. This change can be traced in the Body Politic metaphor of four authors: John of Salisbury, Christine de Pizan, Johannes Althusius, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In this project, I argue that the Body Politic metaphor, particularly the inclusion or exclusion of a soul of the Body Politic, is uniquely appropriate for capturing the complexity of political life in general across differing levels of aggregation and for elucidating the political and religious commitments of the authors who employ it, as they critique their own contemporary political and religious institutions and describe their ideal societies. In the conclusion, I suggest that the loss of a strongly organic conception of the state has denied modern society and political theory a well established means for incorporating corporate entities and for explaining the existence of the modern nation-state in any kind of transcendental moral context, thus the lost soul of the Body Politic.

O presente trabalho pretende estudar o fenômeno do federalismo pela perspectiva tridimensional do Direito. Primeiramente, esboçar-se-á o federalismo de uma perspectiva fática, a primeira e mais natural associação humana. Depois, analisaremos a valoração do federalismo, ou seja, a intervenção de um processo racional no curso associativo natural do federalismo. Exemplificamos a valoração do federalismo a partir da teoria contratual de Montesquieu, o qual desenvolve um verdadeiro esqueleto organizacional da extensão territorial dos Estados, conformando as grandes monarquias às pequenas repúblicas: república federativa. Por fim, colocaremos em prática o federalismo fático, associado aos valores, no campo normativo dos clássicos modelos do Direito Constitucional: o federalismo Norte- Americano e o federalismo Alemão. / The present work intends to study the phenomenon of federalism from the tridimensional perspective of Law. Firstly, a picture of federalism from a factful perspective shall be drawn, as the first and most natural form of association. Later, the perceived value of federalism, which is, the intervention of a rational process in the course of federalism’s natural association, shall be analyzed. The perceived value of federalism is exemplified from Montesquieu’s contractual theory, which develops a real organizational scheme for the territorial extension of the States, applicable to both large monarchies and small republics: federative republic. At last, the model of factful federalism shall be put to practice, associating its values to the normative field of the classic constitutional law models: the American and the German federalism.

O presente trabalho pretende estudar o fenômeno do federalismo pela perspectiva tridimensional do Direito. Primeiramente, esboçar-se-á o federalismo de uma perspectiva fática, a primeira e mais natural associação humana. Depois, analisaremos a valoração do federalismo, ou seja, a intervenção de um processo racional no curso associativo natural do federalismo. Exemplificamos a valoração do federalismo a partir da teoria contratual de Montesquieu, o qual desenvolve um verdadeiro esqueleto organizacional da extensão territorial dos Estados, conformando as grandes monarquias às pequenas repúblicas: república federativa. Por fim, colocaremos em prática o federalismo fático, associado aos valores, no campo normativo dos clássicos modelos do Direito Constitucional: o federalismo Norte- Americano e o federalismo Alemão. / The present work intends to study the phenomenon of federalism from the tridimensional perspective of Law. Firstly, a picture of federalism from a factful perspective shall be drawn, as the first and most natural form of association. Later, the perceived value of federalism, which is, the intervention of a rational process in the course of federalism’s natural association, shall be analyzed. The perceived value of federalism is exemplified from Montesquieu’s contractual theory, which develops a real organizational scheme for the territorial extension of the States, applicable to both large monarchies and small republics: federative republic. At last, the model of factful federalism shall be put to practice, associating its values to the normative field of the classic constitutional law models: the American and the German federalism.

O presente trabalho pretende estudar o fenômeno do federalismo pela perspectiva tridimensional do Direito. Primeiramente, esboçar-se-á o federalismo de uma perspectiva fática, a primeira e mais natural associação humana. Depois, analisaremos a valoração do federalismo, ou seja, a intervenção de um processo racional no curso associativo natural do federalismo. Exemplificamos a valoração do federalismo a partir da teoria contratual de Montesquieu, o qual desenvolve um verdadeiro esqueleto organizacional da extensão territorial dos Estados, conformando as grandes monarquias às pequenas repúblicas: república federativa. Por fim, colocaremos em prática o federalismo fático, associado aos valores, no campo normativo dos clássicos modelos do Direito Constitucional: o federalismo Norte- Americano e o federalismo Alemão. / The present work intends to study the phenomenon of federalism from the tridimensional perspective of Law. Firstly, a picture of federalism from a factful perspective shall be drawn, as the first and most natural form of association. Later, the perceived value of federalism, which is, the intervention of a rational process in the course of federalism’s natural association, shall be analyzed. The perceived value of federalism is exemplified from Montesquieu’s contractual theory, which develops a real organizational scheme for the territorial extension of the States, applicable to both large monarchies and small republics: federative republic. At last, the model of factful federalism shall be put to practice, associating its values to the normative field of the classic constitutional law models: the American and the German federalism.