Machiavelli's Florentine Republic
Author | : Michelle T. Clarke |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 205 |
Release | : 2018-03-08 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781108563796 |
ISBN-13 | : 1108563791 |
Rating | : 4/5 (791 Downloads) |
Download or read book Machiavelli's Florentine Republic written by Michelle T. Clarke and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do modern republics have to fear? Machiavelli's Florentine Republic reconstructs Machiavelli's answer to this question from the perspective of the Florentine Histories, his most probing meditation on the fate of republican politics in the modern age. It argues that his principle goal in narrating the defeat of Florentine republicanism is to debunk the views of leading humanists concerning the overall health of republican politics in modernity and the distinctive challenges that modern republics should expect to face. The Medici family had exposed these vulnerabilities better than anyone else, and Machiavelli reconstructs their political strategy to show how conventional ideas of moral and political virtue are the most potent instruments of princely ambition in a city that wants to be free.