This book presents a critical examination of Machiavelli's thought, and an account of his work with a reassessment of his central ideas and arguments. It challenges the accepted interpretations of Machiavelli's work, insisting that his republicanism was based not on a commitment to virtue, greatness, and expansion, but on the ideal of civic life protected by a shield of fair laws. This detailed study of how Machiavelli composed his famous work, The Prince, offers new interpretations, and it further argues that the most challenging and completely underestimated aspect of Machiavelli's thought i ... More

This book presents a critical examination of Machiavelli's thought, and an account of his work with a reassessment of his central ideas and arguments. It challenges the accepted interpretations of Machiavelli's work, insisting that his republicanism was based not on a commitment to virtue, greatness, and expansion, but on the ideal of civic life protected by a shield of fair laws. This detailed study of how Machiavelli composed his famous work, The Prince, offers new interpretations, and it further argues that the most challenging and completely underestimated aspect of Machiavelli's thought is his philosophy of life, in particular his conceptions of love, women, irony, God, and the human condition. This book demonstrates that Machiavelli composed The Prince, and all his works, according to the rules of classical rhetoric and never intended to found the ‘modern science of politics’, aiming rather to continue and refine the practice of political theorizing as a rhetorical endeavor taught by the Roman masters of civic philosophy.