• Neato@ttrpg.network
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    6 months ago

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-politics/article/abs/on-the-woman-question-in-machiavelli/E311D336805BA0CF5611E6B79C1EC603

    Extract

    Although Machiavelli has been widely condemned as a misogynist, his three central political works feature dozens of women who engage in efficacious and often praiseworthy political action. To appreciate fully the character and value of their activity and ultimately Machiavelli’s views on women as potential political agents, one must first carefully attend to his conception of animo. Usually translated as “spiritedness,” animo represents the natural assertiveness, energy, and resoluteness that forms the basis of virtù if properly disciplined – usually by a city’s modes and orders. By examining the plight of women, however, Machiavelli turns to those persons who stand outside the city’s political institutions and thus tend to exercise unbridled animo, for better or for worse. In addition to revealing his deep preoccupation with political outsiders, Machiavelli’s appreciation of the political problems associated with womanhood also discloses one of his most radical impieties-the denaturalization of gender norms, an impiety we are only beginning to appreciate today

    🤷 I am definitely not a philosopher or political scientist.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It shows our failure as a species that most people don’t understand that Machiavelli’s most famous work was satire.

      • something_random_tho@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        The Prince was certainly not satire. He wrote it to Lorenzo de Medici with the intention of being hired as his advisor. The entire book is specific instructions of how to rule for this very purpose. Of course he wasn’t hired, since the book boils down to “be as duplicitous as you can be to get what you want.”

        • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          “be as duplicitous as you can be to get what you want.”

          Ok, maybe I’m missing it then. I thought that made it obvious satire. Is this another Poe’s law situation?

          • something_random_tho@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            No, Machiavelli sincerely argued for this kind of extreme pragmatism–do whatever’s necessary to get what you want. It was wasn’t satire. It’s pretty obvious why he didn’t get the job as advisor, though.

  • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    You know, this makes me think why arranged/forced marriages were the norm in the past. Dating is hard by its nature even with today’s “convenience” of digital technology.