num_pages: 348
description: Leo Strauss argued that the most visible fact about Machiavelli's doctrine is also the most useful 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 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.
language: English
title: Thoughts on Machiavelli
titlecomplete: Thoughts on Machiavelli
genres: Political Science, History, Philosophy, 20th Century, Nonfiction, Academic, Politics
ratings_count: 162
publisher: University of Chicago Press