The Question of Machiavelli's Modernity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6399262 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anthony J Parel (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 320-339 |
| Publication date | 1991-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Review of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0034670500014649 |
| OpenAlex | W1975875766 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 2 |
That Machiavelli is an innovator of political philosophy is universally acknowledged. The program of innovation is outlined in The Prince, chapter 15: he wants to depart from the orders of his predecessors. The goal of the new philosophy is “effectual truth,” and not the imagination of it. Actual states, not “imagined republics and kingdoms” are its real concerns. The distinction between how one lives and how one ought to live is still made, but only in order to point out that what is done should never be abandoned for what should be done. Preservation of the state has emerged as the new summum bonum, in the interest of which everything becomes permitted. The distinction between virtue and vice is no longer important; and the new type of ruler, if he is good, must learn how to be not good. The Preface to Discourses I also proposes a similar program: he is determined “to enter a path not yet trodden by anyone” and to introduce “new modes and orders
Epistemology · Modernity · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Ruler · State (computer science · Virtue · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,3 |
| Citation span | 1999 - 2025 (27) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |