Machiavelli is one of history’s most famous (or infamous) writers on morality. The Catholic Church banned his work, accusing him of undermining virtue itself. Philosophers have blamed him for the modern world’s declining sense of morality. To be called “Machiavellian” is rarely a compliment today. Yet others have long defended Machiavelli as a Renaissance man who sought to explain how the world really works. In this seminar, we will read some of Machiavelli’s writings, asking whether he was a moral monster, or whether his moral vision is actually closer to traditional Judaism than we usually think, and perhaps a corrective to some of the errors and illusions of the Middle Ages.
Ben Silver
Benjamin Silver is a PhD student in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Before returning to school, he worked as an assistant editor at National Affairs. Beginning in 2022, he will clerk for Judge Steven J. Menashi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is currently writing a dissertation on The Federalist, and his other writing has appeared in publications such as Mosaic, Commentary, First Things, and The Jewish Review of Books. He holds an AB and an AM from the University of Chicago as well as a JD from Yale Law School.