be like the fox machiavelli in his world

I spoke to her recently about Machiavelli’s legacy and what he might teach us about Trump and the decline of liberal democracies around the world. He wrote about why democracies get sick and die, about the dangers of inequality and partisanship, and even about why appearance and perception matter far more than truth and facts.Įrica Benner, a professor of political philosophy at Yale, writes about all of this in her new book Be Like the Fox: Machiavell i in His World. Machiavelli also had plenty to say about things that matter today. He was, in other words, giving both sides the handbook. He taught rulers how to govern more ruthlessly, yes - but at the same time, he also showed the ruled how they were being led.

But there’s more to Machiavelli than that. Machiavelli’s most famous book, The Prince, is widely viewed as an instruction manual for tyrants, and it kind of is. He was warning citizens of the 16th-century Republic of Florence not to be duped by cunning leaders. The infamous Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli wrote those words in 1526, near the end of his life. Drawing on his letters, political writings, hard-hitting satirical dramas, and conversations with kings and popes, Be Like the Fox reveals Machiavelli as an unlikely hero for our times.“I’d like to teach them the way to hell, so they can steer clear of it.” Forced out of politics and prevented from speaking freely, Machiavelli had to use his skills of foxlike dissimulation to defend democracy in an era of tyrannical princes. But despite his heroic efforts, the Medici soon swept back into power.

Machiavelli dedicated his life to this struggle for freedom. In Be Like the Fox, Erica Benner takes us back to Renaissance Florence, where newly liberated citizens fought to build a free republic after the Medici princes were exiled. “Remarkable, engaging.… Be Like the Fox can be read with pleasure by anyone interested in the craft of politics and the life of ideas.”― New York Times Book Review In the five hundred years since he wrote The Prince, Machiavelli’s name has been linked to tyranny and the doctrine that “the ends justify the means.” But that is not what he stood for.

Be like the fox machiavelli in his world