Machiavelli and Republicanism

Ideas in Context

by Quentin Skinner (Editor), Gisela Bock (Editor), Maurizio Viroli (Editor)

This highly acclaimed volume brings together some of the world's foremost historians of ideas to consider Machiavelli's political thought in the larger context of the European republican tradition, and the image of Machiavelli held by other republicans. An international team of scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds (notably law, philosophy, history and the history of political thought) explore both the immediate Florentine context in which Machiavelli wrote, and the republican legacy to which he contributed.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, History, Italy, Essays

Hardcover

First published May 31, 1991

About the author

Educated at Caius College, Cambridge, where he was elected to a Fellowship upon obtaining a double-starred first in History, Quentin Skinner accepted, however, a teaching Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he taught until 2008, except for four years in the 1970s spent at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1978 he was appointed to the chair of Political Science at Cambridge University, and subsequently regarded as one of the two principal members (along with J.G.A. Pocock) of the influential 'Cambridge School' of the history of political thought, best known for its attention to the 'languages' of political thought.

Skinner's primary interest in the 1970s and 1980s was the modern idea of the state, which resulted in two of his most highly regarded works, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: Volume I: The Renaissance and The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: Volume II: The Age of Reformation.

Reviews

[Mark Singer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wide ranging and well thought collection of essays on the Florentine Secretary. Originally published in 1990, the essays in this book are often quoted in subsequent books and appear in many bibliographies.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

highly specialized essays and especially concerned with linguistics

[Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

These essays are revised versions of papers presented at a Machiavelli conference in Florence. All the participants were pre-selected, so it's kind of an all-star lineup of Florentine scholars, theorists of republicanism and political scientists of historical stripe. Some of the entries are translated from the Italian; not all of the essays provide translations of quotations from Machiavelli, so brush up on your Italian before dipping into some of the entries. Readers with different agendas will find various things to like here. For me, the following essays were high points. Robert Black's and John M. Najemy's largely complementary essays on Machiavelli's role as a civil servant within the Florentine republic went a long way toward contextualizing why Machiavelli was so valuable and yet so irritating to his superiors during the republic. They also help explain why he was canned when the republic came to an end with the return of the Medici. Quentin Skinner's valuable first contribution to the volume is a recontextualization of The Discourses within an early humanist tradition. Maurizio Viroli's contribution also focuses on The Discourses, explaining how they represent Machiavelli's attempt "to excite in the young the desire to emulate ancient virtue"--this position is opposed to those who focus on The Prince to find Machiavelli the amoral scientist of the pursuit of power. Blair Worden's curious essay focuses on the republicanism of John Milton; he eventuates a somewhat controversial but interesting reading of Paradise Lost as a result. Quentin Skinner's short concluding essay, his second contribution to the volume, is an extraordinarily pithy meditation on the concept of negative liberty, recuperating the republican idea of civic virtue for this idea. The other essays may appeal to other readers--there are reflections on Machiavelli and the Dutch republic, on Montesquieu, several essays on Florence itself, and more. Definitely for specialists with a reasonably wide familiarity with more than just The Prince.