Download or read book Machiavelli Leonardo and the Science of Power written by Roger D. Masters and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2016-10-14 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, Niccolò Machiavelli's works have been viewed primarily with historical interest as analysis of the tactics used by immoral political officials. Roger D. Masters, a leading expert in the relationship between modern natural sciences and politics, argues boldly in this book that Machiavelli should be reconsidered as a major philosopher whose thought makes the wisdom of antiquity accessible to the modern (and post-modern) condition, and whose understanding of human nature is superior to that of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, or Mill. Central to Masters's claim is his discovery, based on previously untranslated documents, that Machiavelli knew and worked with Leonardo da Vinci between 1502-1507. An interdisciplinary tour de force, Machiavelli, Leonardo, and the Science of Power will challenge, perplex, and ultimately delight readers with its evocative story of the relationship between Machiavelli and da Vinci, their crucial roles in the emergence of modernity, and the vast implications this holds for contemporary life and society.
Download or read book Fortune is a River written by Roger D. Masters and published by Plume Books. This book was released on 1999 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masters provides a concise and insightful description of the partnership of two of history's greatest geniuses--Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli--and their scheme to make Florence a seaport. photo insert.
Download or read book Machiavelli The Prince written by Niccolo Machiavelli and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1988-10-28 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Skinner presents a lucid analysis of Machiavelli's text as a response to the world of Florentine politics.
Download or read book Thoughts on Machiavelli written by Leo Strauss and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1978 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leo Strauss argued that the most visible fact about Machiavelli's doctrine is also the most useful one: Machiavelli seems to be a teacher of wickedness. Strauss sought to incorporate this idea in his interpretation without permitting it to overwhelm or exhaust his exegesis of The Prince and the Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy. "We are in sympathy," he writes, "with the simple opinion about Machiavelli [namely, the wickedness of his teaching], not only because it is wholesome, but above all because a failure to take that opinion seriously prevents one from doing justice to what is truly admirable in Machiavelli: the intrepidity of his thought, the grandeur of his vision, and the graceful subtlety of his speech." This critique of the founder of modern political philosophy by this prominent twentieth-century scholar is an essential text for students of both authors.
Download or read book Introducing Machiavelli written by Patrick Curry and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2015-06-18 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrated guide to the crucial Italian philosopher and author of The Prince. 'Machiavellian' is a popular byword for treachery and opportunism. Machiavelli's classic book on statecraft, The Prince, published over 400 years ago, remains controversial to this day because of its electrifying frankness as a practical guide to power. Is it a how-to manual for dictators, a cynical philosophy of 'the end justifies the means', or a more complex and subtle analysis of successful government? Machiavelli was a loyal servant of the Florentine republic. His opposition to Medici despotism led him to torture on the rack and exile, and yet he chose as his model for the Prince the most notorious tyrant, Cesare Borgia. Introducing Machiavelli traces the colourful life of this paradoxical realist whose clear-sighted patriotism made him the first truly modern political scientist. Machiavelli is seen as central to the postmodern debate on Civil Society. This book brings the creative turbulence of Renaissance Italy to life, and presents a compelling portrait of a key figure of European political history.
Download or read book Machiavelli s Politics written by Catherine H. Zuckert and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-04-25 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Machiavelli is popularly known as a teacher of tyrants, a key proponent of the unscrupulous “Machiavellian” politics laid down in his landmark political treatise The Prince. Others cite the Discourses on Livy to argue that Machiavelli is actually a passionate advocate of republican politics who saw the need for occasional harsh measures to maintain political order. Which best characterizes the teachings of the prolific Italian philosopher? With Machiavelli’s Politics, Catherine H. Zuckert turns this question on its head with a major reinterpretation of Machiavelli’s prose works that reveals a surprisingly cohesive view of politics. Starting with Machiavelli’s two major political works, Zuckert persuasively shows that the moral revolution Machiavelli sets out in The Prince lays the foundation for the new form of democratic republic he proposes in the Discourses. Distrusting ambitious politicians to serve the public interest of their own accord, Machiavelli sought to persuade them in The Prince that the best way to achieve their own ambitions was to secure the desires and ambitions of their subjects and fellow citizens. In the Discourses, he then describes the types of laws and institutions that would balance the conflict between the two in a way that would secure the liberty of most, if not all. In the second half of her book, Zuckert places selected later works—La Mandragola, The Art of War, The Life of Castruccio Castracani, Clizia, and Florentine Histories—under scrutiny, showing how Machiavelli further developed certain aspects of his thought in these works. In The Art of War, for example, he explains more concretely how and to what extent the principles of organization he advanced in The Prince and the Discourses ought to be applied in modern circumstances. Because human beings act primarily on passions, Machiavelli attempts to show readers what those passions are and how they can be guided to have productive rather than destructive results. A stunning and ambitious analysis, Machiavelli’s Politics brilliantly shows how many conflicting perspectives do inform Machiavelli’s teachings, but that one needs to consider all of his works in order to understand how they cohere into a unified political view. This is a magisterial work that cannot be ignored if a comprehensive understanding of the philosopher is to be obtained.
Download or read book The Prince written by Niccolò Machiavelli and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1998-09 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mansfield's translation of this classic work, in combination with the new material added for this edition, makes it the definitive version of The Prince, indispensable to scholars, students, and lovers of the dark art of politics.
Download or read book Reading Machiavelli written by John P. McCormick and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new reading of Machiavelli’s major works that demonstrates how he has been previously misread To what extent was Niccolò Machiavelli a “Machiavellian”? Was he an amoral adviser of tyranny or a stalwart partisan of liberty? A neutral technician of power politics or a devout Italian patriot? A reviver of pagan virtue or initiator of modern nihilism? Reading Machiavelli answers these questions through original interpretations of Machiavelli’s three major political works—The Prince, Discourses, and Florentine Histories—and demonstrates that a radically democratic populism seeded the Florentine’s scandalous writings. John McCormick challenges the misguided understandings of Machiavelli set forth by prominent thinkers, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and representatives of the Straussian and Cambridge schools, and he emphasizes the fundamental, often unacknowledged elements of a vibrant Machiavellian politics. Advancing fresh readings of Machiavelli’s work, this book presents a new outlook on how politics should be conceptualized and practiced.
Download or read book Machiavellian Democracy written by John P. McCormick and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-31 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intensifying economic and political inequality poses a dangerous threat to the liberty of democratic citizens. Mounting evidence suggests that economic power, not popular will, determines public policy, and that elections consistently fail to keep public officials accountable to the people. McCormick confronts this dire situation through a dramatic reinterpretation of Niccolò Machiavelli's political thought. Highlighting previously neglected democratic strains in Machiavelli's major writings, McCormick excavates institutions through which the common people of ancient, medieval and Renaissance republics constrained the power of wealthy citizens and public magistrates, and he imagines how such institutions might be revived today. It reassesses one of the central figures in the Western political canon and decisively intervenes into current debates over institutional design and democratic reform. McCormick proposes a citizen body that excludes socioeconomic and political elites and grants randomly selected common people significant veto, legislative and censure authority within government and over public officials.
Download or read book The Life of Niccol Machiavelli written by Roberto Ridolfi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography of Macchiavelli is widely regarded as Ridolfi’s masterpiece and is based on much material drawn from private and public archives. It presents a fresh interpretation of Macchiavelli’s career and writings and here, for example the dating of the composition of such famous works as the Prince and the Mandragola is established for the first time. This English translation, when originally published in 1963 included numerous correction and additions which brought it up to date with the most recent studies on Macchiavelli and his works.
Download or read book The Machiavellian Cosmos written by Anthony Parel and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this highly original interpretation of Machiavelli's thought, Anthony J. Parel identifies a theme generally neglected in the scholarship of this sixteenth-century political thinker: Machiavelli's belief in the occult forces of heaven and humors. Challenging the current tendency to view Machiavelli as a pioneer of modern political science, Parel argues instead that a premodern cosmology and anthropology underlie Machiavelli's political works. Parel shows that Machiavelli's world picture owes more to the astrological cosmology prevalent in the Renaissance than to the Aristotelian or Platonic or Christian world picture. This astrological determination significantly affects Machiavelli's conceptions of history, politics, and religion and shapes his notions of virtu and fortuna. It also has considerable impact on his ethical ideas: the Machiavellian cosmos has no room for a Ruling Mind or for the Sovereignty of the Good, and humans are left to pursue their appetites for riches and glory as best they can. In a similar fashion, says Parel Machiavelli's political anthropology is influenced by the ancient idea that body humors determine a person's temperament and behavior, for he believes that humors compromise human autonomy and rationality. According to Parel, the theory of humors also affects Machiavelli's view of the body politic and his characterization of republics, princedoms, and licenzia, and Parel explicates this in new readings of The Prince, the Discourses, and the Florentine Histories.
Download or read book Discourses on Livy written by Niccolò Machiavelli and published by e-artnow. This book was released on 2018-03-25 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Machiavelli saw history in general as a way to learn useful lessons from the past for the present, and also as a type of analysis which could be built upon, as long as each generation did not forget the works of the past. In "Discourses on Livy" Machiavelli discusses what can be learned from roman period and many other eras as well, including the politics of his lifetime. This is a work of political history and philosophy written in the early 16th. The title identifies the work's subject as the first ten books of Livy's Ab urbe condita, which relate the expansion of Rome through the end of the Third Samnite War in 293 BC. Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) was an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer. He has often been called the father of modern political science. He was for many years a senior official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He served as a secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power.He wrote his most well-known work The Prince in 1513, having been exiled from city affairs.
Download or read book Machiavelli and Republicanism written by Gisela Bock and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some of the world's foremost historians of ideas consider Machiavelli's political thought in the larger context of the republican tradition.
Download or read book The Comedy and Tragedy of Machiavelli written by Vickie B. Sullivan and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Italian statesman and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli wrote not only political tracts but also comedies, poems, fables and letters that are seemingly lighthearted. The contributors to this volume explore the meanings of his works.
Download or read book Machiavelli on International Relations written by Marco Cesa and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-01-30 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The importance of international politics in Niccolò Machiavelli's thought cannot be denied. Although the familiar ideas expressed in the Prince and the Discourses are obviously relevant, the Art of War, the History of Florence, the dispatches that he wrote during his diplomatic missions, several minor political writings, and the private letters contain a number of additional insights and observations that refine and enrich his views. This anthology gathers together for the first time all of Machiavelli's writing on international affairs. About 60 excerpts are organized around key themes, such as: the idea that political action takes place in a context that constrains decisions and affects outcomes; the central role played by fear in influencing foreign policy; the ways in which domestic politics and international politics interact; the fundamental functions performed by the armed forces; the similarities and differences in the foreign policy of republics and principalities; the ambivalent relationship between defence and expansion; the curse of neutrality and the ambiguities of alliances; the precariousness of international arrangements and the inherent instability of any settlement. An introductory chapter and accompanying illustrative materials guide the reader through the conceptual world of Machiavelli and the complex political events of his time.
Download or read book Machiavelli for Women written by Stacey Vanek Smith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the NPR host of The Indicator and correspondent for Planet Money comes an “accessible, funny, clear-eyed, and practical” (Sarah Knight, New York Times bestselling author) guide for how women can apply the principles of 16th-century philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli to their work lives and finally shatter the glass ceiling—perfect for fans of Feminist Fight Club, Lean In, and Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office. Women have been making strides towards equality for decades, or so we’re often told. They’ve been increasingly entering male-dominated areas of the workforce and consistently surpassing their male peers in grades, university attendance, and degrees. They’ve recently stormed the political arena with a vengeance. But despite all of this, the payoff is—quite literally—not there: the gender pay gap has held steady at about 20% since 2000. And the number of female CEOs for Fortune 500 companies has actually been declining. So why, in the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp, is the glass ceiling still holding strong? And how can we shatter it for once and for all? Stacy Vanek Smith’s advice: ask Machiavelli “with this delicious look at what we have to gain by examining our relationship to power” (Sally Helgesen, New York Times bestselling author). Using The Prince as a guide and with charm and wit, Smith applies Renaissance politics to the 21st century, and demonstrates how women can take and maintain power in careers where they have long been cast as second-best. “Machiavelli For Women is the ultimate battle guide for our times. Brimming with hard-boiled strategies, laced with wit, it’s a must-read for every woman ready to wield power unapologetically” (Claire Shipman, coauthor of The Confidence Code).
Download or read book Machiavelli and His Friends written by Niccolo Machiavelli and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 621 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intimate world of Niccolò Machiavelli comes to life in this first complete collection in English of the letters he wrote and received. Spanning his adult life from 1497 until his death in 1527, these letters to and from his friends and compatriots--some of whom, such as Francesco Guicciardini and Francesco Vettori, were among the most influential thinkers of the day--reveal his personality and present a panorama of life, people, and critical events in Renaissance Italy. The correspondence offers valuable insight into the origins of Machiavelli's ideas on history, politics, literature, and society and the social context from which his achievements arose. Often his correspondence served as a testing ground for ideas he developed more fully in his writing. While the letters taken together show Machiavelli both living within and transcending his own time, on a more intimate level they reveal the human element that helped to shaped his thought. Machiavelli emerges as an individual with multifaceted capabilities and a multitude of roles, among them devoted humanist, political analyst, shrewd rhetorician, and practical joker. Based on Franco Gaets's authoritative critical Italian edition of Machiavelli's correspondence, the collection includes 257 letters written to Machiavelli and 84 letters written by him. Arranged chronologically, correspondence to and by Machiavelli is interwoven so that readers may easily follow discussions between him and his associates. The translators' introduction establishes the political and cultural context of the correspondence, and headnotes introduce each section of letters. Explanatory and historical annotations illuminate people, places, and events mentioned within the letters. Machiavelli's correspondence opens a window onto an important era in Western intellectual history, disclosing the language, thoughts, and preoccupations of some of the key people who shaped the Italian Renaissance. As the definitive edition, Machiavelli and His Friends will interest students of Machiavelli, specialists in political science and Renaissance literature and history, and general readers desiring to know more intimately one of the most fascinating personalities of the Renaissance.
