180370 SE Renaissance Politics: Machiavelli (2009S)

The course seeks to provide a comprehensible exposition of the various and often clearly heterodox new concepts in politics in the writings an important philosopher of the early modern period: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was amongst the most polarizing thinkers of all times: he is renown (or notorious) as a theorist of the brutal political realities of contemporary Italy.
The seminar will provide a concise introduction to Machiavelli, and his socio-political environments; it will outline pre-modern conceptualisations of new epistemologies that were going in tandem with politics; the course envisions a critical reassessment of the traditional canon in the history of philosophy. The focus on the changing culture of Sixteenth Century Italy will also emphasize the conditions of research, such as the oppressive restrictions on liberty of speech and publication imposed by ecclesiastical authorities during and after the council of Trent.
Didactical approach: or what to expect in the classroom
The Seminar will be held in English, accompanied by reading material from selected relevant primary sources and secondary literature at the student's disposal in the library. General introductions to the historical and intellectual backgrounds of the texts under consideration will go along with close readings of selected passages from Machiavelli's works.
Apart from participating in the discussions of selected primary texts, students will be required to give a short talk and to write a ten-page essay in English.
Recommended Reading