Suchergebnisse

L'attacco al razionalismo in politica costituisce il fulcro degli interessi teorici, e delle preoccupazioni pratiche, di Oakeshott negli anni Cinquanta. Con il termine razionalismo egli intende il supposto uso senza vincoli e senza pregiudizi della ragione e la fede che in questo modo si arriverà a un sicuro miglioramento della condizione umana. Nella sua ricostruzione, il primo autore a proporre l'uso della ragione, acuminata dal metodo induttivo e purificata da pregiudizi, come strumento della conquista della natura da parte dell'uomo fu Francis Bacon; una ragione strumentale che aveva fatto tabula rasa dei pregiudizi derivanti dalla società, dal principio di autorità, dalle opinioni comuni (i vari tipi di idola).

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of Cicero's writings or his historical significance as an example in politics and in rhetoric for Italian Humanist and Renaissance culture. Machiavelli, well-educated in the classics, drew from Cicero the inspiration for embarking on a project of education of a new ruling class: Machiavelli's "principe nuovo" is new when compared to his contemporary counterparts, imbued with Christian and Humanist notions of virtue; however, the "principe nuovo" has an old soul, since the new notion of prudence elaborated by Machiavelli has its roots in classical images of ethical and political virtue, in Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. Machiavelli, just like Cicero, felt that what he had not been able to do in deeds with his political action at the service of the Florentine republic, he could do through his writings: putting his knowledge of men and politics, his expertise gained through practical experience and constant reading of ancient authors at the service of his fellow-countrymen and of his patria. The novelty of Machiavelli's teaching consists in advocating a new kind of prudence, which consists in the capacity to do evil in view of a good and elevated purpose: to save, preserve and aggrandize the State.

AbstractMachiavelli'sPrincecirculated widely in manuscript form in Italy way before its publication in 1532. Its reception was mixed from the start: some readers found in it a frank, sometimes ironic, description for the benefit of the people of the evil means used by bad rulers; others read in it evil recommendations to tyrants to help them maintain their power. The history of the reception of thePrincein Italy discloses a book with many facets: the impious and amoral Machiavelli of the Jesuits; the republican champion of the people, who unveiled the evil practices of tyrants, of the Enlightenment and Romantic readers; the citizen and patriot who fought for the liberation of Italy of the "Risorgimento"; the nationalist author who realized the limits of popular sovereignty and the necessity of force during the Fascist era; and many more Machiavellis andPrincespresent in Italy in the past five hundred years.

"My project at the Italian Academy concerns how to create good citizens in a multicultural society through a reform of education. In my previous paper I tried to show how an Aristotelian approach seems to be the most promising model of education. The typical objection to such an approach is that it "idealizes" too much the real situation of human beings and their 'nature,' which has a lot of negative features neglected by the neoAristotelians. In this paper I aim to show how Machiavelli's political writings aim at permanently educate the real statesman, teaching him the primary duty of responsibility and the virtue of prudence. Machiavelli, the champion of political realism, becomes thus an ally of Aristotle in educating good citizens."