PLSC 114: Introduction to Political Philosophy
Lecture 10 - New Modes and Orders: Machiavelli's The Prince (chaps. 1-12). The lecture begins with an introduction of Machiavelli's life and the political scene in Renaissance Florence. Professor Smith asserts that Machiavelli can be credited as the founder of the modern state,
having reconfigured elements from both the Christian empire and the Roman republic, creating therefore a new form of political organization that is distinctly his own. Machiavelli's state has universalist ambitions, just like its predecessors, but it has been liberated from Christian and
classical conceptions of virtue. The management of affairs is left to the princes, a new kind of political leaders, endowed with ambition, love of glory, and even elements of prophetic authority.
(from oyc.yale.edu)
| Lecture 10 - New Modes and Orders: Machiavelli's The Prince (chaps. 1-12) |
| Time | Lecture Chapters |
| [00:00:00] | 1. Introduction: Video of "The Third Man" |
| [00:02:20] | 2. Introduction: Who Was Machiavelli? |
| [00:15:33] | 3. "The Prince": Title and Dedication of the Book |
| [00:21:52] | 4. The Distinction between Armed and Unarmed Prophets |
| [00:26:10] | 5. Good and Evil, Virtue and Vice |
| References |
| Lecture 10 - New Modes and Orders: Machiavelli's The Prince (chaps. 1-12) Instructor: Professor Steven B. Smith. Resources: Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince [ebook]. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov]. |
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