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Niccolò Machiavelli's seminal work, The Prince, argued that a ruler could not govern morally and be successful. Giovanni Botero disputed this argument and proposed a system for the maintenance and expansion of a state that remained moral in character. Founding an anti-Machiavellian tradition that aimed to refute Machiavelli in practice, Botero is an important figure in early modern political thought, though he remains relatively unknown. His most notable work, Della ragion di Stato, first popularised the term 'reason of state' and made a significant contribution to a major political debate of the time - the perennial issue of the relationship between politics and morality - and the book became a political 'bestseller' in the late sixteenth and the seventeenth century. This translation of the 1589 volume introduces Botero to a wider Anglophone readership and extends this influential text to a modern audience of students and scholars of political thought.
Introduces an influential but often overlooked late Renaissance writer to a wider English-speaking audience
An important primary source for understanding contemporary reactions to Machiavelli, and the anti-Machiavellian tradition
Enriches our understanding of early modern Italian and Counter Reformation political thought
Part I. Book 1
Part II. Book Two
Part III. Book Three
Part IV. Book Four
Part V. Book Five
Part VI. Book Six
Part VII. Book Seven
Part VIII. Book Eight
Part IX. Book Nine
Part X. Book Ten
Part XI. Appendix A
Part XII. Appendix B
Part XIII. Appendix C
Part XIV. Appendix D.
Description
Niccolò Machiavelli's seminal work, The Prince, argued that a ruler could not govern morally and be successful. Giovanni Botero disputed this argument and proposed a system for the maintenance and expansion of a state that remained moral in character. Founding an anti-Machiavellian tradition that aimed to refute Machiavelli in practice, Botero is an important figure in early modern political thought, though he remains relatively unknown. His most notable work, Della ragion di Stato, first popularised the term 'reason of state' and made a significant contribution to a major political debate of the time - the perennial issue of the relationship between politics and morality - and the book became a political 'bestseller' in the late sixteenth and the seventeenth century. This translation of the 1589 volume introduces Botero to a wider Anglophone readership and extends this influential text to a modern audience of students and scholars of political thought.
Introduces an influential but often overlooked late Renaissance writer to a wider English-speaking audience
An important primary source for understanding contemporary reactions to Machiavelli, and the anti-Machiavellian tradition
Enriches our understanding of early modern Italian and Counter Reformation political thought
