eBook

Redeeming “The prince”

Viroli, Maurizio

2014,2013

Overview

InRedeeming \"The Prince,\"one of the world's leading Machiavelli scholars puts forth a startling new interpretation of arguably the most influential but widely misunderstood book in the Western political tradition. Overturning popular misconceptions and challenging scholarly consensus, Maurizio Viroli also provides a fresh introduction to the work. Seen from this original perspective, five centuries after its composition,The Princeoffers new insights into the nature and possibilities of political liberation. Rather than a bible of unscrupulous politics,The Prince, Viroli argues, is actually about political redemption--a book motivated by Machiavelli's patriotic desire to see a new founding for Italy. Written in the form of an oration, following the rules of classical rhetoric, the book condenses its main message in the final section, \"Exhortation to liberate Italy from the Barbarians.\" There Machiavelli creates the myth of a redeemer, an ideal ruler who ushers in an era of peace, freedom, and unity. Contrary to scholars who maintain that the exhortation was added later, Viroli proves that Machiavelli composed it along with the rest of the text, completing the whole by December 1513 or early 1514. Only if we readThe Princeas a theory of political redemption, Viroli contends, can we at last understand, and properly evaluate, the book's most controversial pages on political morality, as well as put to rest the cliché of Machiavelli as a \"Machiavellian.\" Bold, clear, and provocative,Redeeming \"The Prince\"should permanently change how Machiavelli and his masterpiece are understood.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: 16th Century / 1DST / Agostino Nifo / Alan Ryan / Albert O. Hirschman / Amy Gutmann / Antonio Gramsci / Benedetto Croce / Calculation / Cesare Borgia / Civil religion / Classical republicanism / Clifford Geertz / Determination / Discourses on Livy / Eloquence / Emancipation / Emeritus / Europe / Gaetano Mosca / Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel / George Kateb / Giorgio Vasari / Giovanni Pontano / Giuseppe Mazzini / God / Hannah Arendt / Hans Baron / HBJD / HISTORY / History & Theory / HISTORY / Europe / Italy / HISTORY / Europe / Italy. bisacsh / HISTORY / Modern / 16th Century / HISTORY / Modern / 16th Century. bisacsh / HPS / Irony / Italians / Italy / Jean-Jacques Rousseau / JPA / Leo Strauss / Leone Ginzburg / Lightness (philosophy) / Luigi Pulci / Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527. Principe / Machiavellianism / Majesty / Manifesto / Michael Walzer / Modern / Multitude / Naivety / Narration / Niccolò Machiavelli / On Religion / Petrarch / Philosopher / PHILOSOPHY / PHILOSOPHY / Political / PHILOSOPHY / Political. bisacsh / Piero Gobetti / Poggio Bracciolini / Political / Political myth / Political philosophy / Political religion / POLITICAL SCIENCE / POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory / POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory. bisacsh / Political strategy / Politician / Politics / Prediction / Princeton University / Princeton University Press / Quentin Skinner / Realism (international relations) / Renaissance humanism / Republic / Revolution / Robert P. George / Scientist / The Fatherland / The Machiavellian Moment / The Social Contract / Theory / Utopian and dystopian fiction / Vittorio Alfieri / What Happened / Writing
• ISBN: 0691168598, 9780691168593, 0691160015, 9780691160016, 1400848423, 9781400848423