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Modern Wisdom

#321 - Dr Alexander Lee - The Story Behind Machiavelli's Philosophy

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.74.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2021

⏱️ 66 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Alexander Lee is a renaissance historian at the University of Warwick and an author.

Niccolo Machiavelli is one of the most famous political philosophers of all time. His work is often considered ruthless, brutal and manipulative, but who was the man behind the words?

Alexander has just written one of the most insightful and comprehensive biographies of Machiavelli ever, so let's return to 15th century Florence and find out what Niccolo was really like, how he continually failed in his own political career, why he threw up on an old woman after having sex with her, the truth underpinning his views on human nature and much more...

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello friends, welcome back to the show.

0:03.0

My guest today is Alexander Lee.

0:04.8

He's a Renaissance historian at the University of Warwick and an author, and we are talking

0:09.1

about the story behind Machiavelli's philosophy.

0:12.5

Nicola Machiavelli is one of the most famous political philosophers of all time.

0:17.8

His work is often considered ruthless, brutal and manipulative, but who was the man behind

0:23.2

the words?

0:24.2

Alexander has just written one of the most insightful and comprehensive biographies of Machiavelli

0:29.9

ever.

0:30.9

So, let's return to 15th century Florence and find out what Nicola was really like, how

0:36.4

he continually failed in his own political career, why he threw up on an old woman after

0:41.8

having sex with her, the truth underpinning his views on human nature, and much more.

0:48.0

I've mentioned previously that learning about the times and the context and the setting

0:52.2

in the history of the environment in which philosophies were created gives you a complete

0:57.7

new perspective on what that person was trying to get across.

1:01.4

And we learn today, Machiavelli's just this flawed human.

1:04.6

You know, he gets drunk with his friends, he turns up late to meetings, he cheats on his

1:08.0

wife, and it reminds us that these titans of history, they were flawed humans just the

1:14.1

same as we are, it reminds us that we can do great things in life.

1:17.8

The fact that we go through the vicissitudes of human days isn't a denier of our capacity

1:23.8

to do fantastic things with our time on earth.

1:27.0

Plus, Alex has the perfect historians narrator voice.

...

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