Machiavelli, Leonardo, and the science of power

Cover -- Half title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Introduction -- One Leonardo and Machiavelli -- Two On Reading Machiavelli's Prince -- Three Machiavelli's Science of Human Nature -- Four Using the Beast: Animal Dominance and Human Leadership -- Five Using the Man: The Biological Nature of the State -- Six Political Leadership, Emotion, and Communication -- Seven Machiavelli, Leonardo, and the Emergence of Modernity -- Conclusion -- Appendix I: Documents from Machiavelli's Association with Leonardo da Vinci -- Appendix II: Machiavelli's Letters

In recent years, Niccolo Machiavelli's works have been viewed primarily with historical interest as analyses of the tactics used by immoral political officials. Roger D. Masters, a leading expert in the relationship between modern natural science and politics, boldly argues in this book that Machiavelli should be reconsidered as a major philosopher whose thought makes the wisdom of antiquity accessible to the modern (and post-modern) condition, and whose understanding of human nature is superior to that of such moderns as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, or Mill. Central to Master's claim is his discovery, based in previously untranslated documents, that Machiavelli knew and worked with Leonardo da Vinci between 1502 and 1507