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

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Health & Fitness, Society & Culture

4.6 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2021

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ 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... Sponsors: Get perfect teeth 70% cheaper than other invisible aligners from DW Aligners at http://dwaligners.co.uk/modernwisdom Get 20% discount on all pillows at https://thehybridpillow.com (use code: MW20) Extra Stuff: Buy Machiavelli: His Life and Times - https://amzn.to/3eFlH6f Get my free Ultimate Life Hacks List to 10x your daily productivity → https://chriswillx.com/lifehacks/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Join the discussion with me and other like minded listeners in the episode comments on the MW YouTube Channel or message me... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ModernWisdomPodcast Email: https://www.chriswillx.com/contact Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Chris Williamson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Chris Williamson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.