Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss
Leo 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 20th-century scholar should be a valuable text for students of both authors.
Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was one of the preeminent political philosophers of the twentieth century. He is the author of many books, among them The Political Philosophy of Hobbes, Natural Right and History, and Spinoza's Critique of Religion, all published by the University of Chicago Press. Richard L. Velkley is the Celia Scott Weatherhead Professor of Philosophy at Tulane University and the author, most recently, of Heidegger, Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780226777023 |
| ISBN 10 | 0226777022 |
| Title | Thoughts on Machiavelli |
| Author | Leo Strauss |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | The University of Chicago Press |
| Year published | 1995-10-15 |
| Number of pages | 348 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |