Machiavelli Revisited

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This work attempts to guide the reader through a maze of interpretations of Machiavelli's political opinions. The author demonstrates that Machiavelli was an anti-metaphysical empiricist who sought to free political thought from all theological preconceptions or residues by challenging the assumption that there exists some unifying pattern that prescibes their proper behaviour to all animate creatures. Machiavelli's work reflects the Renaissance growth of secular humanism and empiricism, with its emphasis on knowledge derived from observation of the particular rather than generality or moral principle. Femia shows that Machiavelli's political realism illustrates the discrepancy between imaginary polities and the real functioning of states. In addition to analyzing the intellectual and social roots of Machiavelli's thought, Femia also demonstrates the relevance of Machiavelli for the modern world and his impact on 20th-century thought.

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'...a significant reinterpretation of Machiavelli that should interest experts as well as the general reading public...excellent ...' The European Legacy

Author Bio

Joseph Femia is lecturer in Politics at Liverpool University. He has published articles in a wide variety of scholarly journals and is the author of Gramsci's Political Thought, The Machiavellian Legacy and Marxism and Democracy.