Machiavelli on War

by Christopher Lynch

Overview

Machiavelli on War offers a comprehensive interpretation of the philosopher-historian's treatment of war throughout his writings, from poems and memoranda drafted while he was Florence's top official for military matters to his posthumous works, The Prince and Discourses on Livy. Christopher Lynch argues that the issue of war permeates the form and content of each of Machiavelli's works, the substance of his thoughts, and his own activity as a writer, concluding that he was the first great modern philosopher because he was the first modern philosopher of war.

Lynch details Machiavelli's understanding of warfare in terms of both actual armed conflict and at the intellectual level of thinkers competing on the field of knowledge and belief. Throughout Machiavelli's works, he focuses on how military commanders' knowledge of human necessities, beginning with their own, enables and requires them to mold soldiers, organizationally and politically, to best deploy them in operations attuned to political context and changing circumstances. Intellectually, leaders must shape minds, their own and others', to reject beliefs that would weaken their purpose; for Machiavelli, this meant overcoming the classical and Christian traditions in favor of a new teaching of human freedom and excellence.

As Machiavelli on War makes clear, prevailing both on the battlefield and in the war of ideas demands a single-minded engagement in "reasoning about everything," beginning with oneself. For Machiavelli, Lynch shows, the successful military commander is not just an excellent leader but also an excellent human being in constant pursuit of the truth about themselves and the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501773020
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2023
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Christopher Lynch is Professor of Political Science at Missouri State University and head of the Department of Political Science. He has served as a senior adviser at the US State Department. He is the editor and translator of Art of War by Niccolò Machiavelli and the coeditor of Principle and Prudence in Western Political Thought.

What People are Saying About This

Carnes Lord

In this outstanding book, which will become a landmark in the field of Machiavelli scholarship, Christopher Lynch offers valuable and illuminating readings of the Prince, the Discourses, and less well-known works to make an indisputable case that war and international affairs are central to Machiavelli's understanding of the human.

Paul Rahe

By putting war at the center of Machiavelli's thought and taking seriously his claim that war is man's natural condition, this eye-opening book makes sense of Machiavelli's political writings and his radicalism. Christopher Lynch persuasively demonstrates that Machiavelli's treatment of war demands the thought-provoking philosophical exploration it receives in these pages.

Andrea Guidi

This up-to-date, comprehensive, and wide-ranging exploration of the problem of war in Machiavelli is going to be a reference work in the field. Christopher Lynch's critical engagement with existing scholarship as well as his profound knowledge of Machiavelli's writings lead him to offer new perspectives on central issues such as civic commitment and the function of military commanders in political communities.