Thoughts on MachiavelliLeo 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. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - choices7727 - LibraryThingThe most beautiful book, in my judgment, of the century's greatest philosopher. Leo Strauss provides a guide to the thoughts of his great teacher and rival, Niccolo Machiavelli, and therewith to his own thoughts. Read full review
Review: Thoughts on Machiavelli
User Review - mwr - GoodreadsStrauss always makes good on his promise to demonstrate the folly of insisting that everything has a meaning, but you can't read this book without realizing how poorly you read Machiavelli the first time. There are a few nice observations, though. Read full review
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accidents according to Machiavelli action Agathocles ancient Rome antiquity Aristotle authority beginning believe Bible Biblical captain cause Cesare Cesare Borgia chance character Christianity classical common compelled concerned conspiracies corrupt Decemvirate desire difference Discourses Discourses II discussion emperors enemy Epistle Dedicatory evil explicitly Fabius fact fatherland favor Florentine Histories Fortuna founders glory heavenly signs hence honor human imitate Italian kind king Latin liberation of Italy Livian order Lorenzo Machia Machiavelli indicates Machiavelli says Machiavelli speaks Manlius means mentioned merely middle course mixed bodies modern examples modes and orders moral virtue Moses nature necessity occurs opinion pagan philosophy plebs political Polybius praise Prince ch prudence question quotations from Livy quotes reason references to Livy regarding religion republican Roman republic Roman senate Romulus rule Samnites Savonarola Second Book society Sparta Tacitus teaching things thought tion traditional true truth Tuscan tyranny tyrant understand velli vice whereas words writers
Popular passages
Page 13 - Government founded on a moral theory, on a system of universal peace, on the indefeasible hereditary Rights of Man, is now revolving from west to east by a stronger impulse than the Government of the sword revolved from east to west. It interests not particular individuals, but Nations in its progress, and promises a new era to the human race.
Page 13 - The United States of America may be said to be the only country in the world which was founded in explicit opposition to Machiavellian principles,
Page 13 - The problem inherent in the surface of things, and only in the surface of things, is the heart of things.
Page 9 - We shall not shock anyone, we shall merely expose ourselves to good-natured or at any rate harmless ridicule, if we profess ourselves inclined to the oldfashioned and simple opinion according to which Machiavelli was a teacher of evil.
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Thoughts on Machiavelli A Phoenix book, P785 Page 785 of Phoenix books |
| Author | Leo Strauss |
| Edition | reprint, reissue |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press, 1978 |
| ISBN | 0226777022, 9780226777023 |
| Length | 348 pages |
| Subjects | › Philosophy / General Political Science / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |