Machiavelli, master of power

Are we entering an era when robots will finally liberate people, and particularly women, from the drudgery of housework? There is certainly a buzz around domestic robots right now and every month seems to bring us a new autonomous machine that can fold your clothes or stack your ...  Show more

One of the first recorded examples of a marriage ceremony is dated more than 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia. And it seems that through the ages, weddings have never lost their appeal. The global wedding industry is today worth billions of dollars, and it is one that keeps on growi ...  Show more

Since The Prince was first published in 1532 it has attracted an eclectic group of admirers. Figures as diverse as Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean-Jaques Rousseau, and Tupac Shakur, have managed to find some deep wisdom in the pages of Niccolo Machiavelli's little book. Machiavelli's en ...  Show more

Is this just a handbook for psychopaths, or a satirical attack on his contemporaries, or did Machiavelli have a moral message? In this reading from his book Philosophy: The Classics, Nigel Warburton explains the central themes from Machiavelli's great work The Prince and explores ...  Show more

Do you consider yourself a shrewd manipulator? Are you cynical about the nature of human beings? If so, you might rank highly in Machiavellianism - a personality trait that's based on the writing and views of Niccolo Machiavelli, the 16th-century Italian political philosopher. We ...  Show more

Ryan and Todd analyze Machiavelli's The Prince by tracing its influence on later political thinkers, including Hegel, Gramsci, and Althusser. They discuss Machiavelli's novelty and his limitations as a thinker of the political act.