EverScholar Course: Machiavelli’s Continuous Renaissance (October 1-4, 2026)

EverScholar Course: Machiavelli’s Continuous Renaissance (October 1-4, 2026)

$2,795.00

October 1-4, 2026

Boston, MA

Faculty: Professors Steven B. Smith, David Ragazzoni, Francesca Trivellato, and Vickie Sullivan

 

REGISTER WITHOUT WORRY
Free cancellation/Full Refund until July 15
OR in the event the course is cancelled due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), full refund will be provided regardless of date. If the trip is postponed/rescheduled due to COVID-19 because of travel restrictions you will automatically have a spot reserved in the newly rescheduled date.  If you cannot attend the rescheduled dates you will receive a refund of monies paid to EverScholar.

Click here for more detail on our covid-19 and general cancellation policies.

Full Terms and Conditions for EverScholar courses can be viewed by clicking here.

Course fees:  $2795.  All meals, tuition, readings, event tickets, and in-course transportation (that is, other than getting to and from the Boston area) are included in the course fees. Housing is not included, but EverScholar has arranged a block of discounted rooms and the code will be provided upon registration.

 

Pay a Deposit Amount

$500.00

Description

Machiavelli’s Continuous Renaissance

Professors: Steven B. Smith, David Ragazzoni, Vickie Sullivan, and Francesca Trivellato

October 1-4, 2026

Boston, MA

Widely associated with the idea of power politics, Machiavelli’s name has become synonymous with deceit, cunning, lying, and betrayal. He is conventionally associated with a hard-hearted realism, and a belief that what ultimately matters in politics is the ability of leaders to prove successful, no matter how ruthless their actions might be. 

Our purpose in this course will be to explore the many dimensions of Machiavelli’s novelty, reclaiming its complexity and nuance against simplistic and one-dimensional readings.  We will analyze and compare his different writings (The Prince, Discourses on Livy, Florentine Histories, among others) against the backdrop of Renaissance Florence and its political and intellectual history under the (in)famous Medici dynasty. We will study Machiavelli’s ideas on political founding, greatness and decline, the relationship between morality and politics, the importance of public opinion for political leaders, and the role of chance and virtù in human affairs. We will discuss his views on socio-economic conflict in ancient and modern republics, the nature and perils of factions, the role of religion in politics, and his overall philosophy of history. Finally, we will trace the afterlives of his ideas both in political philosophy and on the battleground of political ideologies over the centuries, discussing countless appropriations, (mis)readings, and critical encounters with his work into our present.

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