Machiavelli’s Prince is the most famous political book ever written and yet it remains one of the most contested.  Ever since the work’s publication in 1532 – five years after Machiavelli’s death – it has never ceased being a topic of conversation.  Was he the evil “Machiavel” of Elizabethan literature, a teacher of the dark arts of political duplicity and deception, or was he prophet of political liberation and maybe even democracy as more recent interpreters have argued?  Was he an advocate of policies of Realpolitik (connecting him to other great “realists” from Thucydides to Henry Kissinger) or an idealist who imagined new possibilities and innovations in political forms?  Perhaps most importantly, Machiavelli is the writer who puts executive power at the center of his political thinking.  In this seminar we will consider Machiavelli’s role in creating the idea of the modern executive and how this has entered American political debate.

This seminar is offered online by EverScholar.  In order to encourage an optimal discussion experience, enrollment is limited to 15 persons.  However, the seminar is also offered at one other time, also with Professor Smith.  Register for the session that you are certain you can attend.

Our Professor: Steven B. Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of Government and Philosophy, Yale University

Professor Smith has taught at Yale since 1984. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies in Political Science, Director of the Special Program in the Humanities, and Acting Chair of Judaic Studies and from 1996-2011 served as the Master of Branford College. His research has focused on the history of political philosophy with special attention to the problem of the ancients and moderns, the relation of religion and politics, and theories of representative government.

His best known publications include Hegel’s Critique of Liberalism (1989), Spinoza, Liberalism, and Jewish Identity (1997), Spinoza’s Book of Life (2003), Reading Leo Strauss (2006), and The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss (2009) and Political Philosophy (2012). His newly released book, Modernity and its Discontents, is now available. He is also the Co-Director of Yale’s Center for the Study of Representative Institutions (YSCRI) that focuses on the theory and practice of representative government in the Anglo-American world.  He is also the editor of The Writings of Abraham Lincoln.

He has received several academic awards and prizes including the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize given by Phi Beta Kappa, but is most proud of receiving the Lex Hixon ‘63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences in 2009. He is a die-hard Yankees fan and hopes to be able to play for the team in the next life.  He has taught EverScholar participants on several occasions in the past – and is also a lead professor in the October, 2020 course, “Montaigne and The Art of Living.”  Professor Smith sits on the EverScholar Advisory Board and participates actively in its year-round discussion group.

Registration is now open!  Register by filling out the brief form below.