{"product_id":"machiavellis-politics","title":"Machiavelli's Politics","description":"Machiavelli is popularly known as a teacher of tyrants, a key proponent of the unscrupulous “Machiavellian” politics laid down in his landmark political treatise \u003ci\u003eThe Prince\u003c\/i\u003e. Others cite the \u003ci\u003eDiscourses on Livy\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eMachiavelli’s Politics,\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e            \u003cbr\u003e Starting with Machiavelli’s two major political works, Zuckert persuasively shows that the moral revolution Machiavelli sets out in \u003ci\u003eThe Prince\u003c\/i\u003e lays the foundation for the new form of democratic republic he proposes in the \u003ci\u003eDiscourses.\u003c\/i\u003e Distrusting ambitious politicians to serve the public interest of their own accord, Machiavelli sought to persuade them in \u003ci\u003eThe Prince\u003c\/i\u003e that the best way to achieve their own ambitions was to secure the desires and ambitions of their subjects and fellow citizens. In the \u003ci\u003eDiscourses,\u003c\/i\u003e 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—\u003ci\u003eLa Mandragola, The Art of War, The Life of Castruccio Castracani, Clizia, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eFlorentine Histories\u003c\/i\u003e—under scrutiny, showing how Machiavelli further developed certain aspects of his thought in these works. In \u003ci\u003eThe Art of War, \u003c\/i\u003efor example, he explains more concretely how and to what extent the principles of organization he advanced in \u003ci\u003eThe Prince\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eDiscourses\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e            \u003cbr\u003e A stunning and ambitious analysis, \u003ci\u003eMachiavelli’s Politics\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Catherine H. Zuckert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42848874299453,"sku":"9780226434803","price":71.96,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/7689\/2989\/files\/9780226434803_07b5ec88-4aa9-48b0-b657-3c4462cdf4bf.jpg?v=1766989943","url":"https:\/\/www.palmleaf.com.au\/products\/machiavellis-politics","provider":"Palmleaf","version":"1.0","type":"link"}