Machiavelli

On the History of Political Philosophy is a lively and lucid account of the major political theorists and philosophers of the ancient Greek, Roman, medieval, renaissance, and early modern periods. Topics include discussions concerning human nature, social justice, the origin of law and human rights, the rise and development of different forms of government, idealism and realism in international relations, the distinction between just and unjust war, and the sources of public authority and the nature of legitimate sovereignty. The organizing principle of the book is the idea that the great political thinkers were searching for the best political order and a criterion for human conduct in both domestic and international politics. Demonstrating the continued relevance of historical ideas to today's problems, the author traces ongoing discussions about politics by examining the ideas of key political theorists. The book is intended for use in courses on political philosophy or the history of political philosophy.
https://www.routledge.com/On-the-History-of-Political-Philosophy-Great-Political-Thinkers-from-Thucydides/Korab-Karpowicz/p/book/9780205119745

Most modern historians perpetuate the myth that Giuliano de' Medici (1479-1516), son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was nothing more than an inconsequential, womanizing hedonist with little inclination or ability for politics. In the first sustained biography of this misrepresented figure, Josephine Jungic re-evaluates Giuliano’s life and shows that his infamous reputation was exaggerated by Medici partisans who feared his popularity and respect for republican self-rule.

Rejecting the autocratic rule imposed by his nephew, Lorenzo (Duke of Urbino), and brother, Giovanni (Pope Leo X), Giuliano advocated restraint and retention of republican traditions, believing his family should be “first among equals” and not more. As a result, the family and those closest to them wrote him out of the political scene, and historians - relying too heavily upon the accounts of supporters of Cardinal Giovanni and the Medici regime - followed suit. Interpreting works of art, books, and letters as testimony, Jungic constructs a new narrative to demonstrate that Giuliano was loved and admired by some of the most talented and famous men of his day, including Cesare Borgia, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Niccolò Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael.

More than a political biography, this volume offers a refreshing look at a man who was a significant patron and ally of intellectuals, artists, and religious reformers, revealing Giuliano to be at the heart of the period’s most significant cultural accomplishments.

Collection of contributions on the reception of ancient historiography in Early Modern Culture and Intellectual History. 

INDICE
INTRODUZIONE
I. G. Mastrorosa (Università di Firenze)
Oltre ‘riscoperte’, Nachleben e ‘fortuna’: considerazioni introduttive
ARCHETIPI
L. Porciani (Università di Pavia)
La parola orale. Erodoto e la costruzione del discorso politico
M. Lentano (Università di Siena)
L’eredità di Serse. Suasoria retorica e discorso storiografico a Roma
INTERPRETI E MODELLI
S. Gambino Longo (Université de Lyon III)
Erodoto nel Rinascimento: dalla riabilitazione a un nuovo modello storiografico
J.C. Iglesias-Zoido (Universidad de Extremadura-Cáceres)
La ‘actualización’ de los discursos de Tucídides en las antologías renacentistas de contiones: los argumenta del epitafio (2.35-46)
A. Raffarin (Université Paris-Est-Créteil)
D’un antiquaire à l’autre : Varron source et modèle de Flavio Biondo
P. Ponzù Donato (Università di Firenze)
Interpretazione, divulgazione, attualità: Pier Candido Decembrio volgarizzatore di Cesare
I. G. Mastrorosa (Università di Firenze)
Livio e Machiavelli fra passato e presente: tendenze demagogiche, aspirazioni tiranniche e strumenti di tutela della ‘riputazione’
A. Severi (Università di Bologna)
Dalla Roma imperiale alla Bologna principesca: la vocazione attualizzante del commento beroaldiano a Svetonio
L. Claire (Université de Picardie Jules Verne)
Sur quelques évolutions des commentaires aux Annales de Tacite dans les années 1580: Lipse, Muret, Pasquali, Scotti
LABORATORI FIORENTINI
L. Bernard-Pradelle (Université de Limoges)
L’historien en son laboratoire: Leonardo Bruni Aretino (ca. 1370-1444) et le travail sur les sources antiques
V. Pineda (Universidad de Extremadura-Cáceres)
The Memory of the Ancients in the Florentine Genre of epistole e dicerie
CONCLUSIONI
U. Roberto (Università Europea di Roma)
‘Attualizzare il passato’: alcune riflessioni sulla rilettura dei testi antichi tra l’età tardoantica e l’Europa del Rinascimento
ABSTRACTS

Machiavelli's life, times, and writings converge on the topic of conspiracy. Yet his treatment of this topic is both more expansive and more complex than scholars have recognized. Attending to Discourses 3.6, among other central passages, we argue that the significance of conspiracy for Machiavelli's political thought lies in its connection to founding. In his analyses of historical conspiracies, Machiavelli shows what founding requires in practice; at the same time, the ubiquitous occurrence of conspiracies across historical and political contexts reveals the contested and contingent status of political order. Ultimately, Machiavelli depicts and analyzes conspiracies because he aims not only to investigate but also to produce new beginnings. To this end, Machiavelli deploys a novel rhetoric that challenges the reader to adopt a conspiratorial outlook, if not to become a conspirator himself. I n t e r p r e t a t i o n Volume 45 / Issue 1

Celebrato per la sua opera di pacificazione da Dante (Paradiso VI, 80-81) e da Petrarca 1 , per il quale aveva offerto prova di condotta esemplare su piani molteplici 2 , Augusto trova posto nella memoria storiografico-culturale quattrocentesca con tratti che rivelano il sedimentarsi della sua immagine in modo non univoco, malgrado la tendenza già chiara ad attribuirgli comunque un ruolo di spicco nel processo di definitivo consolidamento della potenza di Roma e in rapporto all'evoluzione delle sue istituzioni. In tal senso meritano attenzione alcune testimonianze offerte da umanisti capaci di mettere a frutto la storia antica in opere pur diverse per contenuti e articolazione nelle quali, dietro approcci antiquari declinati in modo nuovo, coesistono interesse per la riflessione giuspolitica, attitudine alla ricognizione storica di taglio diacronico, valorizzazione della dimensione municipale.

En este artículo propongo interrogar la manera en la que Claude Lefort interpreta a Maquiavelo. En primer lugar, examinaré el estatuto que adquiere, para Lefort, el conflicto y la división social en la obra del Maquiavelo. En segundo lugar, desarrollaré la manera en la que este descubrimiento conduce a Maquiavelo, tal como es leído por Lefort, a elaborar una distinción entre diversas formas de organización política que rompe con la clasificación clásica de las formas de gobierno

Sobreponiéndose al ideal que se impone a la teoría política que circunscribe a su actividad a la búsqueda del bien común y se detiene, por esa razón, en la investigación de los principios capaces de viabilizar la instauración del buen gobierno, la perspectiva de Maquiavel, a través del fundamento de la experiencia y de las ejemplificaciones de la historialidad, converge para la descubierta de leyes que posibiliten la fundación de un Estado, la obtención del poder y la conservación, la institución de la ciencia empírica de la política, que, caracterizada por la objetividad y realismo, demanda, en el ámbito de la relación que envuelve ética y política, una distinción entre la moral privada y la moral pública, implicando una correspondencia con la interpretación de Weber, qua analiza los fundamentos del poder e imputa al Estado la condición de detentor de la violencia “legítima”, identificando la política como una relación de dominación y la posibilidad del ejercicio de dos éticas, el saber, la “ética de las ultimas finalidades” (“ética de la convicción”) y la “ética de la responsabilidad”.

Hlavným cieľom tejto práce je poukázať na vzťah medzi koncepciou morálnych hodnôt Vasila Gluchmana a  predoslými konzekvencialistickými pozíciami v období renesancie. Rovnako ako iní renesanční myslitelia, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola a Niccolò Machiavelli vo svojich prácach ponúkajú humanisticky orientovanú etiku, ktorá je v prípade Pica postavená na hodnote ľudskej dôstojnosti a u Machiavelliho na snahe dosiahnuť moc a dobrý zivot spoločnosti. Obidva pohľady, či uz renesančný (Pico, Machiavelli) alebo aj súčasný (Gluchman), zdieľajú neutilitaristicky konzekvencialistické chápanie morálnych hodnôt, ktoré vyzdvihuje hodnotu ľudskej dôstojnosti a na teoretickej úrovni tak opätovne prinása chápanie ľudského zivota vo svojej komplexnosti. Slovenský filozof Vasil Gluchman taktiez rozvinul etickú teóriu neutilitaristického konzekvencializmu. Vo svojej práci pochopil, ze etika sociálnych dôsledkov sa potrebuje rozsíriť o rovinu morálnych hodnôt. Z tohto dôvodu začal analyzovať koncept dôstojnosti. Vďaka tomu dokázal ponúknuť takú etickú teóriu, ktorá je v súčasnosti prijateľná, a to i bez toho, aby sa vzdala filozofického a etického dedičstva novoveku. Nie náhodou začal svoju prácu o dôstojnosti človeka citovaním jedného z najznámejsích odborníkov na renesančnú filozofiu, Paula Oskara Kristellera, keď čerpal z jeho diela Renaissance Thought and Its Sources (Gluchman 2007, s. 158). Ako sa v ďalsej časti tejto práce dá postrehnúť, koncept dôstojnosti ako základ ľudského zivota je charakteristickou vlastnosťou neutilitaristicko-konzekvencialistického stanoviska
renesančných mysliteľov, a zároveň aj skorým novodobým dedičstvom, ktoré si Gluchman zachováva.

This paper examines Francesco Guicciardini's various efforts to engage, evade or protest Machiavelli's arguments concerning social class, the constitution of liberty and preferable forms of tyranny in his "Considerations on Machiavelli's Discourses" [1530].1 As a prominent Florentine ottimato and a dutiful servant of Medici princes, Guicciardini might be fully expected to resist or refute Machiavelli's frequent endorsements of the moral, cognitive and even pragmatic superiority of peoples over nobilities and princes. Additionally, Guicciardini's antipopular orientation may have been inflamed at the time that he wrote the "Considerations" since

"Co' voti concordi di tutti, fu creato quella mattina sommo pontefice; non sapendo quegli medesimi che l'avevano eletto rendere ragione per che causa, in tanti travagli e pericoli dello stato della Chiesa, avessino eletto uno pontefice barbaro e assente per sì lungo spazio di paese, e al quale non conciliavano favore né meriti precedenti né conversazione avuta con alcuni altri cardinali, da' quali appena era conosciuto il suo nome, e che mai non aveva veduto Italia, e senza pensiero o speranza di vederla. Della quale estravaganza, non potendo con ragione alcuna escusarsi, trasferivano la colpa nello Spirito Santo, solito, secondo dicevano, a ispirare nella elezione de' pontefici i cuori de' cardinali: come se lo Spirito Santo, amatore precipuamente de' cuori e degli animi mondissimi, non si sdegnasse di entrare negli animi pieni di ambizione e di incredibile cupidità, e sottoposti quasi tutti a delicatissimi, per non dire inonestissimi, piaceri" (F.G. Storia d'Italia, XIV, 12). 
L’«estravagante» elezione di Adriano VI e le vicende che l'accompagnarono sono essenziali per comprendere la storia dei due pontificati medicei. Francesco Guicciardini è un testimone eccellente e interessato di quel pontificato, che gettò nello scompiglio non solo la città di Firenze, ma l'intero stato pontificio. Per non parlare delle questioni istituzionali che precedettero la sua elezione. Il contributo intende da un lato dar conto della narrazione che Guicciardini propone di quel pontificato e dall'altro, grazie anche all'ausilio di alcune sue lettere di recente ritrovamento, anche della fervente attività che caratterizza l'esperienza del governatore tra il 1522 e il 1523. Quali furono le sue preoccupazioni, quali i mutamenti nella sua azione politica e soprattutto in che modo egli usò, a sua difesa, il servizio prestato sotto Adriano, per rispondere ai Repubblicani fiorentini, che dopo il ’27, lo accusavano di aver dedicato la propria vita unicamente a servire la tirannide medicea.

Ciclo di lezioni su alcuni grandi autori della letteratura italiana ( Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Palazzeschi, Calvino, Pasolini) e sulle scrittrici italiane tenute da A. Duranti, R. Bruscagli, G. Tellini, M. Biondi, F. Zabagli e D. Maraini al Gabinetto Vieusseux.

El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar que en Maquiavelo la relación entre ética y política consiste en un problema porque supone una tensión entre dos modos posibles de actuación (uno guiado por la ética clásica  y otro, por la ética política), tensión que Maquiavelo recomienda resolver aplicando, en casos límite, el criterio de evitar males mayores realizando males menores.

Este criterio, que justifica el mal al entenderlo como parte de la política, en la medida en que el mundo es irracional en términos morales, es el que define a la ética política de Maquiavelo, y no el de que el fin justifica los medios, como suele creerse. Explicar esto último es también un objetivo de este trabajo.

Friedrich Meineckes Die Idee der Staatsräson in der neueren Geschichte (1924), das als sein Hauptwerk gelten kann, vielfach übersetzt wurde und mit einem Kapitel über Niccolò Machiavelli beginnt, prägte das Machiavelli-Bild im Deutschland des 20. Jahrhunderts in hohem Maße. 1 Seit den 1940er Jahren wurde es in seiner Breitenwirkung allerdings übertroffen von Gerhard Ritters schmalem Buch Machtstaat und Utopie (1940), das ebenfalls mit Machiavelli beginnt; binnen kurzem wurde es neu aufgelegt und nach dem Krieg in überarbeiteter Form unter dem Titel Die Dämonie der Macht gedruckt. 2 Vermutlich noch breiter rezipiert wurde Meineckes ebenfalls schmales Buch Die deutsche Katastrophe. Betrachtungen und Erinnerungen. Das Manuskript war schon im Oktober 1945-Meinecke wurde gerade 83 Jahre alt und schrieb in Einsamkeit und ohne Zugang zu Quellen-so gut wie abgeschlossen und erschien im August 1946 (der Druck hatte sich wegen Verhandlungen um Verlag und Druckerlaubnis verzögert); bis 1951 wurde das Buch in fünf weiteren Sprachen publiziert. Neben seinen Erinnerungen an die Jahre 1901-1919, die 1949 erschienen, war Die deutsche Katastrophe das letzte Buch, das Meinecke neu veröffentlichte. 3 Es wurde damals vielfach besprochen und erhielt einen bedeutenden Platz in späteren Forschungen über Meinecke selbst und in solchen über die Geschichte der deutschen Geschichtsschreibung. 4 Ein Kapitel, das in seinem Zentrum steht-das siebte von 15 Kapiteln-trägt den Titel "Der Massenmachiavellismus".

Machiavelli’s feminist interpreters have increasingly turned to his comedy La Mandragola to problematize the vision of “masculine” virtù and self-sufficiency often attributed to his thought. Insofar as La Mandragola problematizes this vision of political action, however, this chapter argues that readers need to interrogate another character type celebrated therein: that of the detached yet unfailingly perceptive advisor whose depiction as La Mandragola’s chief strategist, Ligurio, is almost universally taken to stand in for Machiavelli himself. In investigating the place of women’s labor in Machiavelli’s oeuvre, I seek to question this analogy. To do so, I turn to re-examine the details behind La Mandragola’s authorship and performance, arguing that key sections of La Mandragola were in fact co-written by Machiavelli and Barbera Salutati, a Florentine singer and actress chiefly remembered as Machiavelli’s “love interest” in current-day scholarship, yet whose actual contribution to Machiavelli’s intellectual work goes largely unnoticed. Revisiting La Mandragola as a co-written and co-produced text raises significant political theoretic concerns. Specifically, I argue that the contextual dynamics of co-authorship challenge readers to question the rhetorical presentation of the masterful strategist—of Ligurio as Machiavelli—in their understanding of “Machiavellian” political agency.

This paper explores the role of "occasion" as a "Machiavellian" tool of political "practice" and "counter practice" in King Lear, and looks at the influence of Justus Lipsius' stoical concept of "constancy" as a countermeasure.

Course Description: A continuation of the Classical Mind, the Modern Mind is an introduction to modern philosophy focusing on texts from selected early modern and modern thinkers. The class builds upon the history, thought concepts, and themes developed in the Classical Mind and traces the development of Western philosophical thought from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. In particular, this course deals with philosophers that consider the nature of thinking and reasoning, the idea of metaphysics and the foundations of human knowledge, the idea of a universal moral law, the nature of political society and the concept of right, and the idea and value of historical thinking. This course utilizes canonical philosophic texts situated in the history of philosophy to establish the structure and methodology of philosophical thinking. As the second course of the introductory sequence of philosophy classes, this class culminates not only in the identification of philosophic issues, concepts, and questions, but also the practical examination and analysis of fundamental human questions as preparation for students' continuing engagement with their liberal arts education. — Prerequisite for PHIL 202: successful completion of PHIL 201.

Although networked movements have often been described as leaderless, I propose that they not only display different kinds of leadership phenomena but, when understood in their own terms, also function in a similar way to the " societies against the state " described by Pierre Clastres: as systems whose functioning controls leadership, power, and (formal) organization by maintaining them in a fragile state. Whereas primitive societies aim to prevent change, however, networked movements exist in shifting conjunctures in which they must intervene and thus are under the imperative to act. The distributed leadership that characterizes them at once inhibits the autonomization of leadership and presupposes its emergence as a condition for action. Rather than choosing between centralized leadership and total leaderlessness, therefore, networked movements must balance two demands (controlling and eliciting leadership) in tension with one another—inhabiting a non-disjunctive space that I describe as " between Clastres and Machiavelli. "

Nato a Venezia intorno al 1480 e morto dopo il 1545, della sua vita si conosce pochissimo. Sacerdote, assunse incarichi ecclesiastici prima a Ceneda (oggi nel comune di Vittorio Veneto), poi ad Arquà, dove nel 1524 era rettore della chiesa arcipretale. Negli anni successivi si divise probabilmente fra Padova e Venezia. Sembra che intorno al 1542 si trasferisse presso la curia papale, e nel 1545 era probabilmente ancora a Roma. Fu in relazione con Pietro Bembo e con altri poeti e letterati del suo tempo, tra i quali Francesco Berni, Giovanni Della Casa e Pietro Aretino. La considerazione di cui godette è dimostrata dalla sua presenza come interlocutore nel dialogo Della Poetica di Bernardino Daniello e nel De optimo philosophorum genere di Alberto Pasquali; è anche ricordato nel Dialogo della dignità delle donne di Sperone Speroni. La sua opera è contenuta nel volume Rime et prose volgari di mons. Giovanni Brevio, stampato a Roma presso Antonio Blado nel 1545, con dedica al cardinale Alessandro Farnese. Si tratta della raccolta di scritti eterogenei: un canzonieretto amoroso di ispirazione petrarchesca, sei novelle, l'ultima delle quali è una variante della Favola o novella di Belfagor di M. (ma nell'esemplare della Biblioteca Universitaria Alessandrina di Roma, che rappresenta una successiva emissione, sono sette: il testo aggiunto è quello della finora anonima novella di Dioneo e Lisetta, la cui scoperta si deve a Flaminia Belfiore, che l'ha trattata in Giovanni Brevio e la novella di Dioneo e Lisetta, tesi di laurea discussa presso la facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università "La Sapienza" di Roma, anno accademico 2011-12), il volgarizzamento dell'orazione A Nicocle di Isocrate, un trattatello filosofico Della vita tranquilla e un secondo corpus di quattro novelle brevi precedute da una prefazione, raccolto sotto il titolo De la miseria humana. È proprio la presenza fra le novelle di B. del racconto di Belfagor, letteralmente coincidente per circa il 40% con quello di M., ad associare nelle reazioni che seguirono alla pubblicazione di Rime et prose il nome del monsignore veneziano a quello dello scrittore fiorentino. Nel 1549, infatti, fu stampato a Firenze presso i Giunti -con il benestare di Guido Machiavelli, figlio di Niccolò -L'asino d'oro di Nicolò Machiavelli, con alcuni altri capitoli et novelle del medesimo,

Acknowledgments Preface Chapter 1: Shakespeare and the Body Politic Bernard J. Dobski and Dustin Gish Part One: The Heart Chapter 2: "The Very Heart of Loss": Love and Politics in Antony and Cleopatra Joseph Alulis Chapter 3: Julius Caesar: The Problem of Classical Republicanism Timothy Burns Chapter 4: Who is Shakespeare's Julius Caesar? Nasser Behnegar Chapter 5: Love, Honor,and Community in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Pamela Jensen Part Two: The Limbs Chapter 6: At War 'Twixt Will and Will Not: Government, Marriage, and Grace in Measure for Measure Peter Meilaender Chapter 7: Trojan Horse or Troilus' Whore? Pandering Statecraft and Political Stagecraft in Troilus and Cressida Nalin Ranasinghe Chapter 8: Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece: Honor and Republicanism Robert Schaefer Chapter 9: Hotspur and Falstaff vs. The Politicians: Shakespeare's View of Honor Timothy Spiekerman Part Three: The Head Chapter 10: Shakespeare, Timon of...

STRAUSS, Leo. Reflexões sobre Maquiavel. Tradução de Élcio Verçosa. São Paulo: É Realizações, 2015, 363p. Os leitores interessados pela teoria política de Nicolau Maquiavel e pelo pensamento de Leo Strauss encontram, desde 2015, à disposição, uma versão em língua portuguesa da obra lançada em 1958, Reflexões sobre Maquiavel, na qual o filósofo teuto-americano apresenta uma genuína e singular interpretação acerca das teses do Secretário florentino. Nesse livro, de notória importância, testemunhamos Strauss operar não somente como um exegeta de Maquiavel, discutindo pormenores críticos, mas, também, como filósofo em sentido próprio, extrapolando a teoria maquiaveliana, levando-a à exaustão e conduzindo-a por caminhos inexplorados. Logo nas primeiras linhas da Introdução, nas quais o intuito do autor é apresentado de forma sistemática, podemos notar o incisivo distanciamento operado por ele em relação às demais tradições interpretativas que foram construídas em torno do pensamento de Maquiavel. Sua premissa norteadora situa-se na contracorrente do esforço de inúmeros intérpretes: o Secretário florentino não somente foi um professor do mal, mas, ele próprio, foi um homem mau. O estudo normativo conduzido por Maquiavel acerca da sociedade teria sido fundado tanto na imoralidade quanto na irreligiosidade. Nesse caso, o problema dos leitores maquiavelianos seria justamente o fato de que os discípulos de Maquiavel foram corrompidos pelo próprio Maquiavel. Todavia, afirma Strauss, consciente de seu movimento de insurgência,

Siyasetnameler devleti yöneten kişilere, devlet yönetimi, siyaset üretme, toplumsal refah gibi konularda tavsiyelerde bulunmak amacıyla ortaya koyulan edebi eserlerdir. Tür olarak bir siyasetname niteliği taşıyan Kutadgu Bilig, Türk-İslam edebi eserlerinin ilkleri arasında sayılmaktadır. Batılı anlamda en önemli siyasetnamelerden biri sayılan Prens adlı eserinde Machiavelli, gücün doğası hakkında tavsiyeler vermiş, iktidarı elinde bulunduran kişiye devlet yönetiminin nasıl olması gerektiği hususunda bilgiler sunmuştur. Kutadgu Bilig"de ise devlet yönetimi ile birlikte, kişisel ve sosyolojik meseleler üzerine de durulmuştur. Yusuf Has Hacib"e göre hükümdar adil, hoşgörülü, ahlaklı, yol gösterici, aklı ve bilgiyi üstün tutan bilge kişidir. Machiavelli"nin Prens"i ise daha çok güç odaklıdır ve güç için bazen ahlak dışı eylemlerde bulunabilmesi dahi kabul edilebilir. Yusuf Has Hacib hükümdarın otoritesinin kanunlarla sınırlandırılması gerektiği, kendisinin de kanunlara riayet etmesi gerektiğini, devlet kurumlarında liyakatin esas olduğunu, adaletin yönetimde en önemli unsurlardan biri olduğunu ve yöneticilerin her zaman rasyonel bir şekilde işlerini yürütmesi gerektiğini vurgulamaktadır. Machiavelli"ye göre iktidar her şeye rağmen korunmalıdır ve bunun için güç şarttır. Bu çalışmada Doğu ve Batı perspektifini yansıtan siyasetname niteliğindeki bu iki eser analiz edilecek ve kıyaslanacaktır.

This article explores the ways in which Gramsci's engagement with Machiavelli and The Prince in particular result in three significant developments in the Prison Notebooks. First, I analyze how the 'heroic fury' of Gramsci's lifelong interest in Machiavelli's thought develops, during the composition of his carceral writings, into a novel approach to the reading of The Prince, giving rise to the famous notion of the 'modern Prince'. Second, I argue that the modern Prince should not be regarded merely as a distinctive (individual or collective) figure, but rather, should be understood as a dramatic development that unfolds throughout 'the discourse itself' of the Prison Notebooks, particularly in the crucial phase of reorganisation in the 'special notebooks' composed from 1932 onwards. Third and finally, I suggest that the combination of the two preceding themes is decisive for understanding the modern Prince as a distinctive form of political organization. Rather than equated with a generic conception of the '(communist) political party', this notion was developed as a part of Gramsci's larger argument regarding the necessity for anti-Fascist political forces in Italy in the early 1930s to grow into an antagonistic collective body guided by principles of 'living philology'.

Current political movements have raised the issue of the problematic diversity of forms of domination and oppression, as well as strategies to counter them, in the way black feminism has signaled the importance of intersectionality. This questioning has also reached Brazilian anarchism in an effort to combat inequalities within the organization of the movement itself. This endeavor can exacerbate internal conflicts, when factors such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age and other markers of difference are called into question. So, in situations of mutual support across such different perspectives, methods of attenuating conflict may be used. That is the (strange) case of astrology, which some anarchists have informally deployed to reduce tensions within their collective force, a kind of "spectral counterpower" (David Graeber).

Politics, in its multiple dimensions, is such a powerfule force that it influences and determines the course of lives of the teaming millions as well as affects the social, economic and cultural contours of national life. At the same time, it is not uncommon to hear that politics is a dirty game played world over. In this context, a critical and comparative understanding of the divergent political philosophies of Machiavelli and More,-who were contemporaries in the 15 th and 16 th century Europe,-as spelt out in their respective classics The Prince and Utopia, which have moulded the political thought over time, down the centuries till the present, assumes great significance and contemporary relevance.

My paper will look at how prudential considerations place pressure upon the apparent integrity of various characters and the responsive strategies which those characters -and Shakespeare in his representation of them -adopt in adapting to, or resisting, or yielding to the circumstances which confront them.

If the greatness of a philosophical work can be measured by the volume and vehemence of the public response, there is little question that Rousseau's Social Contract stands out as a masterpiece. Within a week of its publication in 1762 it was banished from France. Soon thereafter, Rousseau fled to Geneva, where he saw the book burned in public. At the same time, many of his contemporaries, such as Kant, considered Rousseau to be “the Newton of the moral world,” as he was the first philosopher to draw attention to the basic dignity of human nature. The Social Contract has never ceased to be read in the 250 years since it was written. Rousseau's “Social Contract”: An Introduction offers a thorough and systematic tour of this notoriously paradoxical and challenging text. David Lay Williams offers readers a chapter-by-chapter reading of the Social Contract, squarely confronting these interpretive obstacles, leaving no stones unturned. The conclusion connects Rousseau's text both to his important influences and those who took inspiration and sometimes exception to his arguments. The book also features a special extended appendix dedicated to outlining his famous conception of the general will, which has been the object of controversy since the Social Contract's publication.

Resumo A pesquisa trata do papel dos conflitos sociais no republicanismo de Maquiavel, tal como esse tema aparece em duas de suas duas grandes obras: Discursos sobre a primeira década de Tito Lívio e História de Florença. A partir dos debates fomentados pelas Leis agrárias, presente nos Discorsi, e os desdobramentos da revolta dos Ciompi, nas Istorie, analisa-se a forma como Maquiavel retratou esses conflitos. Fundamentado no diagnóstico da inevitabilidade das discórdias, o florentino rompe com a tradição humanista, apontando que a desunião entre a plebe e o senado foi a causa da liberdade romana. Mas a Lei Agrária o desafia. Ora foi necessária para frear as ambições dos grandes, ora foi a causadora da destruição da república. Soma-se a isso a forma como Maquiavel conduz os relatos da revolta dos Ciompi, analisada por alguns intérpretes do florentino como um divisor de águas na reflexão maquiaveliana sobre o conflito social. Para esses intérpretes, as intenções da plebe e o surgimento neste setor social do desejo de dominar, típico dos Grandi, constituem forças causadoras da corrupção da república florentina. Esse artigo tem como objetivo criticar e refutar essa interpretação. Palavras-chave: Maquiavel. Conflito. Desejo. Lei agrária. Revolta dos Ciompi.

A teoria política de Nicolau Maquiavel é atravessada por uma preocupação constante e inflexível: a questão militar. Os problemas sobre as relações de governo são acompanhados lado a lado pelas considerações sobre a necessidade política da formação e da organização de exércitos nacionais. A teoria militar maquiaveliana, diluída no conjunto de suas obras, se revela como um aspecto imprescindível para a manutenção das ordenações estatais e para a conservação do vivere civile. O êxito das instituições políticas é dependente da capacidade de coordenação e plena absorção das estruturas direcionadas para o exercício da guerra: a arte militar e a arte política, no âmago do pensamento de Maquiavel, criam laços de uma articulação incindível. O relacionamento adequado com o aparato marcial é uma condição para a sobrevivência dos Estados. Nesse sentido, o objetivo primário do trabalho aqui apresentado é o de delinear e o de expor em que medida as concepções bélicas de Maquiavel são pensadas e alicerçadas no núcleo de argumentos políticos. Por um lado, buscaremos ilustrar a função exercida pela arte da guerra no interior da dinâmica estatal, avaliando os requisitos necessários para a fusão de guerra e política, além de dedicarmos uma atenção particular às implicações desse papel nos governos republicanos e principescos. Por outro, pretenderemos expor o modo por meio do qual as interpretações de cunho técnico sobre as disposições militares defendidas pelo Secretário florentino foram fortemente guiadas por questões governamentais.

Machiavelli’s philosophy and ideas would have been impossible to construct without his years in the Chancery and diplomatic experiences. His many diplomatic roles as mandatari writing notes alongside diplomats gave him an incredible insight into princes, their failures and the Italian states. It may difficult to differentiate his work at the Chancery from 1498 to 1512 between general administration and diplomacy, the many letters he sends both to ambassadors and for ambassadors are the focus here. As Robert Black highlights, whilst it is difficult to tell whether Machiavelli found time in his work to reflect on philosophy, it is clear that he is in fray of diplomacy when writing abroad, and this naturally influenced him.  Through Machiavelli’s diplomatic letters, we will begin to draw links between two of the main ideas, on virtù and Italy, found in his main philosophical texts, The Prince and the Discourse.  With his travels, Machiavelli met many famous Princes who helped him to identify what constitutes a good prince with the characteristic of virtù, through negative and positive examples. Furthermore, it allowed him to evaluate every aspect of a Prince, to his advisers, organisation and ambition, all of which built up his literary philosophy. Machiavelli’s concept of Italian politics, more specifically of unification, was also unique idea realised through his trips and visits across the peninsula and abroad. With these experiences, he could understand the exploitation of Italy and generate a philosophy on Italian unification unlike any other. However, we are not assume that diplomacy was most important to Machiavelli as arms and conflict alone were still how great men and states were born, diplomacy could still improve the virtù of princes, and help mediate a weaker state to a stronger position.

Western thought: the phrase immediately solicits the expression, ‘dead, White guys.’ The aim of this course is to equip students to analyze the ways in which ideas that seem outdated are still very much alive. Current debates about the ideal versus the real, faith versus reason, church versus state, religion versus science, and Christian virtue versus secular ethics, stem from distinctions set in motion centuries ago.