CMEMS: Dan Edelstein (èצӰ, French)
Organized and hosted by the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (CMEMS).
Dan Edelstein (èצӰ, French) will give a talk titled Plutarch and Machiavelli: on the Politics of Prudence.
Plutarch and Machiavelli: what could they have in common? Machiavelli may have mined Plutarch for historical exempla, but his political arguments could not be more different. Or could they? In this paper, I make the case that Plutarch in fact lay at the source of some of the more iconoclastic claims of The Prince, from the conquest of fortune to the importance of being feared, and even the necessity, on occasion, of immoral acts. If this connection has been been overlooked, I suggest in conclusion, it is because we have artificially placed Plutarch and Machiavelli into “moralist” and “realist” camps, when both actually participate in a common form of political thought, which can be called “prudential politics.”
The CMEMS Workshop series meets most Wednesdays during the academic year. See the CMEMS website for the list of .