TTC Video – William R. Cook – Machiavelli In Context

Mentioning the name Niccol Machiavelli can unleash a powerful response, even among people who have never read a word of his writings. Our language even has a word ”Machiavellian”that encapsulates the images those responses conjure up: An indistinct figure quietly making his way through the darkest corridors of power, hatching plots to play one rival against another. A cold-blooded political liar, ready to justify any duplicity undertaken in the name of a noble end that will ultimately justify the most malignant means. A coolly practical leader ”amoral at best” willing to do whatever is necessary in a world governed not by ideas of right or wrong, but by solutions dictated by realpolitik. But does the Machiavelli most of us think we know bear any resemblance to the Machiavelli who lived, pondered, and wrote?
According to Professor William R. Cook, a reading of Machiavelli that considers only those qualities that we today call “Machiavellian” is incomplete, and Machiavelli himself “certainly would not recognize” such sinister interpretations or caricatures of his writings and beliefs. Indeed, The Prince ”on the pages of which so much of this image was built” was not even published in his lifetime.

William R. Cook is Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at the State University of New York at Geneseo, where he has taught since 1970. He received his Bachelor’s degree cum laude at Wabash College and his Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Professor Cook teaches courses in medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation history as well as the history of the Bible and of Christianity. His books include Images of St. Francis of Assisi and Francis of Assisi: The Way of Poverty and Humility.

Course Lecture Titles
1. Who Is Machiavelli? Why Does He Matter?
2. Machiavelli’s Florence
3. Classical Thought in Renaissance Florence
4. The Life of Niccolт Machiavelli
5. Why Did Machiavelli Write The Prince?
6. The Prince, 1–5—Republics Old and New
7. The Prince, 6–7—Virt and Fortuna
8. The Prince, 8–12—The Prince and Power
9. The Prince, 13–16—The Art of Being a Prince
10. The Prince, 17–21—The Lion and the Fox
11. The Prince, 21–26—Fortune and Foreigners
12. Livy, the Roman Republic, and Machiavelli
13. Discourses—Why Machiavelli Is a Republican
14. Discourses—The Workings of a Good Republic
15. Discourses—Lessons from Rome
16. Discourses—A Principality or a Republic?
17. Discourses—The Qualities of a Good Republic
18. Discourses—A Republic at War
19. Discourses—Can Republics Last?
20. Discourses—Conspiracies and Other Dangers
21. Florentine Histories—The Growth of Florence
22. Florentine Histories—The Age of the Medici
23. The Fate of Machiavelli’s Works
24. Was Machiavelli a Machiavellian?