Ingratiation from the Renaissance to the Present: The Art and Ethics of Gaining Favor

(Hardback)

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Ingratiation from the Renaissance to the Present explores a common ethical problem for intellectuals of the Renaissance: How does one win the favor and patronage of the wealthy and powerful and yet maintain ones dignity, independence, or principles This study examines this and similar ethical dilemmas and how they were reflected in the lives and writings of intellectuals of the periodparticularly Niccol Machiavelli, Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More, and Michel de Montaigne. It also places the issues within their larger social and cultural context and provides comparisons to the contemporary world.

Reviews

This is a superb study of the great Renaissance writers on the difficult art of presenting oneself in a pleasing way without ceasing to be true to oneself. -- James Tully, Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria
There has always been a tension between honesty and agreeableness. When does innocently trying to please others turn into lying and unethical manipulation This volume brings out the answers of Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, and Montaigne, four of the most original thinkers of the Renaissance. This study provides food for thought for our own negotiation of the proper balance, sometimes delicate and hard to pin down. -- John Christian Laursen, University of California, Riverside
What do Cicero, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Montaigne, Rousseau, and Lord Chesterfield have in common with Anthony Robbins and Dale Carnegie All of these figures at one time or another grappled with the necessity for social accommodation, and with the question of just how far one can indulge in this art without sacrificing ones integrity. In this sprightly study, Jeff Diamond traces the history of ingratiation and of the moral dilemmas to which it gives riseand this he does with a keen eye for the changing character of the setting within which ingratiation was required. -- Paul A. Rahe, Hillsdale College

Author Bio

Jeff Diamond received a PhD in political science from McGill University.