The unsparing mirror of Niccolò Machiavelli
Of what use was a Christian soul to a prince? None, if it threatened the survival of the state, argued the father of political science.
{This is Who made our minds?, my weekly essay probing the greatest, cruellest and most beautiful minds, inspired by my book, The Soul: A History of the Human Mind (Penguin 2024). Next week: Christine de Pizan.}
‘MACHIAVELLIAN’ is a byword for manipulative power and cynical statecraft. The modern media wield the adjective as carelessly as they append ‘gat…
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